Battlelines
by The Blue Raven
Summary: Will is more than just a passive observer in the world of abnormals. The Cabal wants him again and, while Magnus knows she should have seen this coming, she’s not about to take it lying down.
1. Chapter 1

**Battlelines**

**Summary:** Will is more than just a passive observer in the world of abnormals. The Cabal wants him (again) and, while Magnus knows she should have seen this coming, she's not about to take it lying down.

**Rating: **PG

**Author's Note:** Okay, I started this fic more than a week before Will was actually kidnapped by the Cabal in the series. My friend Kameka says it's a function of great minds thinking alike (it was her plot bunny in the first place, lol). All I know for sure is that I had to go back and rewrite seven chapters to not conflict with "Warriors". Enjoy.

**Timeline: **After "Warriors" but I would say before "Instinct".

**Chapter 1**

"Oh, good evening, Will," Magnus greeted him as he entered her office. Her desk was piled high with ancient-looking books, one of which she was reading when he came in. She shut it and smiled up at him. "You're up rather late, aren't you?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he answered, grinning.

She smiled back. "So you could, if you felt like being cheeky. Did you need something, Will?"

"Just got an email from Kelly Simonson." He handed her a printout of the message.

"The pyrokinetic? How is she?"

"Reintegrating really well. She hasn't had a spontaneous expression incident since she left the Sanctuary. I thought you'd want to know."

"Well, that's the best possible news we could have from her. I can see the biofeedback and relaxation techniques you went over with her are working. Very well done, Will." She smiled. "Congratulations."

"I could get used to this, treating patients who actually have a normal, _free_ life ahead of them."

"It must make a wonderful change over working with killers. Sit down, Will. This calls for celebration. I've been saving a bottle of wine for just such an occasion."

"Oh, that really isn't necessary," he assured her.

"Don't be foolish, Will. I do my best to recognize the accomplishments of my associates." She patted his shoulder and left the office. "I'll be right back."

Will shrugged and walked over to her desk, picking up one of the books and sitting down, leafing through it to kill time until her return. He was a little surprised to find that it was not one of her typical scientific treatises.

"The Arabian Nights?" he asked when she returned.

"I'm reviewing _all_ of Richard Burton's work, translations as well as original work. The ethnologist, not the actor," she clarified.

"I kind of figured that. Old college chum?"

Magnus shook her head, her expression tolerant. "We met in passing a time or two before his death. He was a man ahead of his time." She returned to the desk, carrying two glasses and a bottle.

"Ah," he answered as she put down the wineglasses and started on the cork.

He leaned around her and picked up another volume, only to hastily put it down. Burton's translation of the Kama Sutra. He tried to pretend that his face was not bright red over having found that particular volume on his boss' desk. Especially not since the words "To the ever-intrepid Helen" had been inscribed on the cover. Whoa…

"Have you read his work in any detail?" she asked, filling glasses. There was something subtly off in her tone, but he could not quite place it and he was unwilling to challenge her over something so minor. A line had probably been crossed when he picked up the sex manual.

"Uh… I'm only up to the mid-As in the library."

"I see." She handed him a glass.

"You okay, Magnus?"

"Trying to profile me again, Will?" she asked, perching on the edge of the desk and taking a thoughtful sip from her own glass.

"Hey, I've learned my lesson about trying to analyze the Magnus girls," he assured her with a grin. "This is good wine."

"It should be. I've had it laid by longer than you've been alive." She leaned forward and tapped the rim of her glass against his. "However, you're worth it."

"Whoa, so… you're saying that bottle is probably worth more than I make in a month?"

"Probably. However, that's one of the few advantages of living as long as I do. The wine was dirt-cheap when I purchased it."

He smiled in response to her laughter, feeling content. Home, family. Things he had been missing for a lot of years. Helen Magnus had given him all that back again and he loved her for it.

"Are you happy here, Will?" she asked, regarding him thoughtfully.

"What? Of _course_ I am!"

"Good." She nodded. "I'm glad."

"Any particular reason for asking?" he wanted to know.

"You're analyzing again."

"No, just curious."

"Hmm." She shrugged. "I want you to be happy here, Will. I would naturally be worried if you weren't. After all, I introduced you to this world, this life."

"Funny, thought _that_ was the monster that killed my mother when I was a kid."

"Be serious, Will," she suggested.

"Sorry."

"A lot of people don't adapt to these truths very well. I'm just happy that you're of the other type. It's better for everyone that way."

"I think I'm settling in pretty well. Don't you?"

"You're doing an outstanding job," she assured him. "I'm proud of you, more than I can say. I just… wondered if you felt there was anything you needed to discuss with me."

"Not as far as I know," he answered. "Why? Do _you_ think there's something we need to talk about?"

"I'm sure if there was, you'd be the first to know," she told him, refilling his glass. "Just know that, _should_ you ever need to talk, my door is always open."

"Well, I appreciate that, Helen." He smiled up at her. "Everything okay? You seem… preoccupied."

She smiled down at him, draining her glass and setting it down on her desk. "I usually _am_. Over something."

"Well, that offer goes both ways," he assured her. "You ever need to talk, I'm there for you twenty-four, seven."

"That's much-appreciated, Will. I'll be sure to take you up on that, should I ever need to."

It felt like a brush-off, so he told her, "Even the boss needs someone to talk to sometimes. It kind of helps if that someone knows roughly what you're going through."

"True. If I were to see a typical psychiatrist, he'd probably section me before I knew what was happening. You, on the other hand, have already displayed great patience with me at even my most psychotic."

Will gave a nervous chuckle. He _really_ did not want to think about what it felt like to be tied to a chair, trying to talk Magnus down while she veered wildly between the desires to kiss him and to kill him. It was just too freaky.

As if reading his mind, "I _would_ like to apologize again for that. My behavior was unforgivable."

"Yeah, but brain parasites forgive a lot of things," he pointed out.

"So they do," she agreed quietly. "You're a forgiving man, Will." She leaned forward and grasped his shoulder. "It's comforting knowing that, no matter what I do, I'll always have your forgiveness."

"Do you _need_ it?"

"I sometimes wonder."

"We _do _need to talk, don't we?" he asked. "There's something going on."

"No, not right now. I'm just thinking about the future and what it might hold."

"_Nothing_ that Doctor Helen Magnus can't handle."

She smiled sadly. "And Doctor William Zimmerman?"

He frowned. "What's this about, Magnus? You have a case you don't think I'm going to be able to handle?"

"Not yet."

"You _expecting_ to?"

"It seems likely," she admitted.

Will considered this, climbing to his feet and refilling her glass. He pressed it into her hands, watching her carefully as he spoke.

"I'm not going to back down, not from any challenge you say I'm capable of facing. I trust you, Helen, I _do_. Nothing's going to change that."

"I hope not." She took a small sip from her glass, then put it down again. "Forgive me, Will. I promised a patient I would meet with him this evening. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."

"Night, Helen. You know where to find me if you need to talk."

"Enjoy the rest of the wine," she suggested as she left the office. "It doesn't keep once the bottle's been opened."

Will stood alone in the office, frowning after her. Something was up, that much was obvious. What, though?

He leaned across the desk and retrieved the book Magnus had closed on his arrival. Perhaps something she had seen there had troubled her. Burton, Mecca, her father's disappearance. Related? It was entirely possible. Or perhaps it was _not_ related and she was simply still upset over his reintroduction and then abrupt retreat from her life. It might be something much more personal, too. She always seemed so in-control, but she_ did_ have a personal life and, presumably, personal troubles as well.

He sat down and started skimming it for references to immortality or longevity, although there were numerous references to individuals with enhanced senses. Hours later, he had found nothing remotely close to anything Magnus had admitted to experiencing. Sighing and not wanting her to find him still in her office, going through her things, he headed towards his room.

He stopped on his way there, switching direction and heading for Ashley's room instead. He glanced at his watch and decided to take the chance before knocking.

"Come on, Mom, you can't have a job for me at this h-- _Will?_" Ashley stood in the doorway in a pair of sweatpants and a sleeveless tee, looking a little confused by his presence. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, but can we talk for a minute?"

"Uh… Sure? Come on in." She stepped back to allow him access. "What's going on?"

"I'm worried about your mother."

"Yeah? I thought it was just me." She sat down, frowning up at him. "Something's obviously bothering her, but she denies anything's wrong. Ideas?"

"Not really. She was kind of evasive. But I found her in her office tonight with every book Sir Richard Francis Burton ever wrote or translated. That mean anything to you?"

"Erm, he wrote a little about abnormals as they existed in tribal societies. Shamans and things, mostly, I think. You don't think Mom plans on sending us up against a witch-doctor or anything?" she looked uneasy with the idea. "They're just _nasty_."

"I'm sure it's nothing like that. Look, I'm sorry to bug you. I'll let you get to sleep. Night, Ashley."

"Night, Will. Let me know if you figure out what's up with Mom. And I'll keep my eyes and ears open, too, and let you know what I find out."

"Good deal. Night." He nodded to her and left the bedroom. "Okay, well, that told you nothing useful," he muttered to himself, heading for his own room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Will was just finishing up a report for Magnus when the office phone rang. Which was odd because not many people had the number and even fewer actually _used_ it. Guests at the Sanctuary knew that his door was always open, and the staff seldom even bothered _knocking_ unless he had the sign up indicating that therapy was in session.

"Will Zimmerman," he answered.

"Doctor, hello. My name's Alice Hughes and I'm from the university. A few years ago, you participated in a research study being performed by my friend Rachel Li. I was wondering if you'd be willing to participate in some follow-up research?"

"Follow-up research?" he asked, searching his memory. "Uh, that was, what? Pattern recognition, wasn't it?"

"That's right, Doctor. My dissertation is on much the same subject. She mentioned that your results were extraordinary. I could really use you to help drive my hypothesis home. It would only take a few hours."

"Hey, helping a grad student get through their dissertation is always a worthy cause, right?" he asked, pulling up his calendar on the computer. "Mmm, let's see. My weekend's booked up, but I have about three hours this morning if that's not too short notice for you."

"Uh, let's see. I can always get Tim to take over my teaching duties. Yeah, I can do this morning. You know the Firefly coffee house, just off campus? Near the Psychology Building?"

"Know it? I practically _lived_ there when I was getting my degree."

She laughed. "Know that feeling."

"I can be there in," he checked his watch. "Oh, twenty minutes?"

"I'll look forward to seeing you," she answered. "I'll be the one in the black and blue dress."

"Okay, I'll see you there."

"Great. I can't thank you enough for doing this on short notice, Doctor Zimmerman."

"Call me Will. I'll see you there."

"Thank you, Will."

"Glad to help," he assured her before hanging up.

0101010

"Hey, Mom, you got a minute?"

Magnus smiled up at her. "Always, Ashley. What can I do for you?"

"I'm worried about you. Will is, too. You've been acting… _off_."

"Yes, I suppose I have," she agreed, gesturing for Ashley to make herself comfortable on the couch.

"Want to talk about it?" Ashley offered. She stopped, looking bemused. "Hey, isn't that normally _your_ question for _me_?"

"Usually," she agreed, moving to join her daughter on the couch. "And I'm sorry if I've alarmed you at all."

"Not your fault. So, what's on your mind?"

"I've been considering the many recorded cases of abnormals who are capable of perceiving what others cannot, of connecting invisible or near-invisible dots to paint an overall picture that is entirely accurate but which others find impossible to accept or believe."

Ashley considered that. "I can think of worse abnormalities to have. I mean…" Her eyes widened. "_Oh!_"

Magnus nodded slowly. "Yes."

"_Will?_"

"The longer I observe him closely, the harder it becomes to ignore the possibility."

Ashley sat there for a moment, looking stunned. "But… he would have _said_ something. Right?"

"One would think so," she sighed. "I see one of two possibilities. Either he knows and doesn't trust us sufficiently to confide in us…"

"_Or_ he just hasn't noticed that what he's capable of is different."

"Precisely. In which case, I've done him a grave disservice by not broaching the matter sooner." She sighed and admitted, "I'm not sure how to proceed, Ashley."

"Well, you've got to talk to him about it, don't you? If you're wrong, it's nothing. But if you're right, if he realizes on his own and then decides that you already knew and were withholding the truth from him…"

"He would perceive it as a breach of trust," she agreed, nodding. "And he would be right."

"Then you need to talk to him," Ashley told her. "I think you're just scared to maybe find out that he doesn't trust you enough to come to you with it." She shook her head. "I don't see that. Will pretty much adores you. He'd do anything for you."

"Even face a truth he'd rather ignore?" she mused.

"I don't think he's ignoring it. I just don't think he's noticed. That _happens_ with abnormals sometimes and you know it. If there's nothing overt to label a kid as a freak, they have no way of knowing that what they can do is unusual. Then they get used to it."

Magnus nodded. Ashley was right. It happened with psychics and empaths all the time.

"I mean, he might not even _be_ an abnormal at all," Ashley continued. "But you've got to talk to him about it. For both your sakes."

"When did my daughter grow so wise?"

Ashley grinned. "Years of watching _you_ do it."

"Well, I suppose I should go talk to him now. Before I lose my nerve."

"Helen Magnus, losing her nerve?" Ashley scoffed. "Nah, that never happens."

"First time for everything, dear," she pointed out.

"This is the first time you've ever taken a protégé who's actually gotten under your skin," Ashley observed, watching Magnus speculatively.

"He's unique." She shrugged. "Promising. Try not to read too much into my friendship with him. I promise, you won't be calling him 'Dad' any time soon."

"Well, damn…"

Magnus smiled and shook her head. "Don't you have an arms-deal to attend?"

She glanced at her watch. "Right you are. Later, Mom."

Magnus let her daughter kiss her, then smiled as she left. Having Ashley for a daughter was often terrifying, but she loved the girl more than she would once have believed it was possible to love another human being. And, just sometimes, it was actually a comfort. Those times made all the rest worthwhile.

Sighing, she climbed to her feet and went to find Will. He was in his office, pulling on his jacket.

"Going somewhere?" she asked, leaning against the doorframe.

"Uh, yeah. I promised a friend, well a friend of a friend, that I'd help her with her dissertation this morning. That okay or did something come up?"

"No, no. By all means, go help your friend. But I think we should talk once you return."

He regarded her thoughtfully for a moment. She could almost _hear_ the wheels turning in his mind as he observed and connected.

"I'll cut it as short as I can," he promised.

"I should be in my office most of the afternoon," she told him. "And, if I'm not when you return, you have my cell number."

"Okay," he agreed, nodding. "We'll talk soon, then."

"Yes, I think that's for the best."

"Good." He nodded again and picked up his briefcase. "I'll see you soon."

"Drive safely, Will. It's slippery out there."

"Usually is, this time of year," he agreed. "Call me if you need anything. _Anything at all_, Helen."

She watched him go with a sinking feeling. If he had a secret, he hid it well and she did not know him as well as she liked to think. If he did _not_, that meant she had been withholding vital information from him for far too long now.

"This, Helen," she told herself, "is what you get for not doing intake physicals on the employees. You have no one to blame but yourself."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The Firefly café was generally empty in the early morning and today was no exception. Will had no trouble picking out Alice Hughes. She sat in a cozy corner, which was no surprise. The Firefly had an odd layout that allowed several dozen such cozy corners; it was part of the appeal of the place for students. There was always somewhere to curl up with a book. Or, better still, a book and a girlfriend, which had always been Will's preference.

Alice was dressed in black and blue, as she had said: a sheer black dress with large dark blue flowers that, except for the color looked like hibiscus. It was a pretty pattern, but unseasonable. She was reading through a sheaf of papers, fingertips drumming against the table in rapid cadence. Her expression was relaxed, but the tic with her fingertips was that of a nervous woman. Frowning, he approached.

"Alice?"

"Doctor Zimmerman?" she asked, climbing to her feet and offering her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I was just going over your test results. Absolutely fascinating, really."

He smiled, a little embarrassed. "It's not _that_ impressive," he answered, taking her hand. "And call me Will."

He hesitated in mid-shake. Her palm was sweaty: not soaked, just a little more moist than would reasonably be expected. Cold, too. He narrowed his eyes, looking her over for other signs of illness or anxiety. It didn't take him long. The slight flutter of skin on her throat betrayed her pulse. The girl's heart was racing…

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked, steering her back to her chair.

"What?" she asked, frowning blankly.

"You seem a little… ill at ease."

She waved a dismissive hand. "I'm fine. Just been overdoing the caffeine lately. You know how it is with dissertations."

"I do," he agreed, sitting down once she was settled. "Look, I know I said I'd have three hours for you today, but something's come up with my boss so I won't be able to stay that long."

"Oh, I understand." She nodded. "I won't keep you long, then. If we can just run through some preliminary tests today, and maybe finish the more intensive testing and interview another day?"

"That sounds good," he agreed, nodding.

"Of course, I'm authorized to reimburse you for your time."

"No need," he assured her. "Like I said, helping grad students finish their dissertations is kind of a reward in itself."

"Well, that's very kind of you." She smiled. "I ordered you a coffee," she added, gesturing to an extra cup on the table. "I wasn't sure what you drank, so I went with a mocha cappuccino."

He smiled in appreciation. "These guys make a _mean_ mocha."

"Tell me about it," she agreed, grinning. "Enjoy."

"Oh, I will," he answered, taking a long sip. It was a perfect combination of smooth and bitter and sweet. Magnus didn't know what she was missing, not drinking coffee. "Mmm, that's _good_. Shall we get started?"

"Sure. I have all your demographic information from Rachel's records, so we don't need to go back over that, which means we can get straight into the tests themselves."

"Sounds good. How _is_ Rachel these days?"

"Riding high. Couple years ago, she developed a decryption program for the Department of Defense. I'm given to understand that the subroutines were based, in part, on insights you gave her into the problem-solving process _you_ use."

He frowned, bemused. "You're kidding?"

"Come on," she countered, grinning at him. "I've seen your name in the paper. Time was the FBI and cops couldn't get enough of your unique take on the evidence."

"Times change," he told her. And it was odd but, for the first time, he was able to consider that fact without anything approaching regret. He _liked_ where he was in life. "I work for a private research firm now."

"And no doubt they benefit greatly from your talents."

"I do what I can." He shrugged.

"Cute, intelligent, _and_ modest," she murmured, shaking her head.

He stared at her with wide eyes. "Beg your pardon?"

"Sorry, just thinking aloud." She flashed him an unrepentant grin and bent over to start rifling through her bag. "Obviously we already know that you're more than capable of picking out patterns within an orderly group of data-points. I thought we'd start by seeing how good you are at making sense of disorderly and unconnected information," she told him, laying a stopwatch and a pile of drawings on the table.

"_Where's Waldo?_" Will asked, laughing and shaking his head. "You're kidding, right?"

"Not at all. I want to see how quickly you can synthesize diverse and seemingly random data and pick out the meaningful information. Do you do these sorts of puzzles often?"

He shook his head. "Only one I've ever really looked at was the Great Wall one. I mean, the pictures are interesting and amusing, but the game itself doesn't appeal to me that much." He shrugged. Too boring for his taste. He liked games he actually had to _work_ at.

"Then the test won't be contaminated." She picked up her stopwatch and slid the first panel in front of him. "Go."

Will glanced at it for a second, then pointed. She stared at him, so stunned that she did not remember to hit the button to stop the watch.

"How the…" She continued to stare at him, expression incredulous.

"What?" he asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"That took you less than _three seconds_. How did you _do_ that?"

Will shrugged. "He just kind of sticks out."

"Wow. Uh, okay. Let's try another one," she suggested, placing another picture before him.

"There."

He pointed and she clicked off the stop-watch, making a note and shaking her head.

"You're actually pretty amazing, Will," she told him. "Have you always had this skill?"

"Never really thought about it before," he admitted. "I mean, I _guess_ I was always pretty good at picking up on patterns and things. Never bothered to try to quantify it." He yawned. "Oh, sorry."

"I'm not _that_ boring, am I?" she asked, grinning at him.

"You aren't boring at all," he assured her.

"No, but my tasks might be, for which I apologize. Feel free to drift off any time. Shall we go through the rest of these?"

It took less than ten minutes to get through another forty panels, by which time Alice was staring at him with an expression of unfeigned wonderment.

"You're _amazing_."

"I'm not sure I'd go that far," he told her. "So I can find Waldo in record time. Big deal. What's next?"

"I'm going to who you some images, and I want you to tell me what you see."

"Like an ink-blot test?" he asked, frowning.

"More like the test for color-blindness," she answered. "There are dots of different colors that, on study, eventually resolve themselves into a coherent image."

"Oh, like those 3-D posters?"

"Exactly." She nodded. "Again, I'll be timing you. Ready?"

"When you are," he agreed as she turned over the first page. "Sailboat, three masts."

"Damn," she muttered, shaking her head. When they had gone through twenty such images, she asked him, "What's your IQ test at?"

"Don't know. Haven't had it tested since high-school. It wasn't too extraordinary, then, I don't think. I didn't test into the gifted class, so it couldn't have been _too_ far-removed from average."

"Hmm, well I never thought those tests were very good at doing what they claimed to."

"No, they're really lacking in a lot of respects," he agreed. "Intelligence is just too multifaceted a thing to test comprehensively in just a few hours."

"Very true," she agreed. "How are you at maths?"

"Little beneath average, to be honest. Statistics nearly kept me from getting my degree." He yawned again. "I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be," she answered easily. "Late night? Why don't I get you another coffee?"

"Couldn't hurt," he agreed, starting to climb to his feet. "I'll get it." The room started to spin. "Whoa!"

"Easy," she murmured, moving to his side and putting an arm around him, supporting him. "You probably just need some fresh air. We'll take you outside and you'll be right as rain in a few minutes."

"Sounds good," he agreed, although part of his mind was trying to tell him something _very_ important.

She half-carried him from the café because his feet simply refused to work properly. He caught a glimpse of the shop's sole barista, pointedly looking in another direction entirely as two large men collected Alice's things and followed them from the shop.

"You're kidnapping me, aren't you?" he asked, his voice slurring over the words. He tried to panic, but failed at it rather miserably.

"Yeah, but don't worry. Just cooperate and you'll be fine."

Since he could not have resisted if he tried, he just nodded and leaned against her, his grip on consciousness sliding.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Henry, have you seen Will?" Magnus asked, leaning into his lab.

"Not today, Doc," he answered, not looking up from the piece of computer equipment he was tinkering with. "Problem?"

"He was supposed to be back hours ago. He missed an appointment with me and now he's missed two appointments with patients. And he isn't answering his cell phone."

Henry frowned, looking as concerned as she felt. "That's not like him. I'll triangulate his cell signal for you," he announced, sliding his chair across the room and starting to type.

"Thank you," she answered, moving to stand behind him. "Any word from Ashley?"

"Weapon sale was a go," he told her, typing rapidly. "Good, his cell's actually _on_. That'll make this easier. She dropped the merchandise off here, then ran out to check reports of 'wild dogs' in the sewers."

She frowned. "For 'wild dogs' am I meant to read 'werewolves'?"

"That's the impression she got from her contact," he agreed.

"What would a werewolf be doing in a _sewer_?"

"Don't ask me, boss. I try to avoid the places myself. They smell and, as a werewolf, I tend to notice that more than most people. On the other hand, very few people and _lots_ of good places to hide…"

"True," she agreed, shrugging that off. "Anything yet?"

"I've managed to narrow it down some. Looks like he's on or near the university."

She nodded. "He _did_ mention he was helping someone with her dissertation."

"That would be the place to be, then." He typed some more, then nodded and pointed to the screen. "Here. Firefly coffee shop." After a moment, he added, "Doesn't look like he's moved an inch in the last few hours…"

She sighed, shaking her head. "He may have been forced to leave his phone behind."

Henry looked anxiously up at her. "Do we have a problem here, boss?"

"Looks that way," she admitted, nodding. "Call Ashley, tell her that Will may be missing. I'll let you both know what I discover."

"You need backup?"

"To case a coffee shop? I think I'll manage, Henry. Thank you anyway. Besides, I may require your technical skills here."

He nodded. "Anything you need."

"Thank you, Henry. I know you and Will are close. Try not to worry. We'll find him."

"I know we will. It's just the idea that he might _need_ finding in the first place. You think it was the Cabal?"

"I'll know more once I've investigated a bit. There might be nothing wrong at all. I could be completely overreacting."

"Nothing personal, boss, but I hope you are."

"So do I, Henry. So do I."

0101010

Using a scanner provided by Henry, Magnus found Will's phone easily enough: stashed under a bush in a planter. _Definitely_ not somewhere Will would have left it of his own accord.

Pocketing the phone, she entered the café and walked up to the counter, pulling out a photo of Will and showing it to the barista.

"Have you seen this man today?"

"Nope."

She frowned and suggested, "It might help if you actually _looked_ at it."

"I haven't seen him," he repeated.

"I think you _have_," she answered, her voice cold. She did not entirely manage to mask her anger, either. "He would have been here with a woman."

He hesitated. "He your boyfriend or something?"

"Or something," she agreed. "What were they _doing_ here?"

"Looked like an IQ test or something."

_An IQ test?_ Why on earth would the Cabal be giving Will an IQ test?

"Listen, this young man is very important to me. I need to know where he went, who he left with."

"Look, if a patron hooks up here, that's _not_ my business."

"What will it take to _make_ it your business?"

The bribe he demanded was high enough to make her wish that she had brought Ashley along to rough up any potential witnesses she should come across. It was not the cash itself, but the principle of the thing. But the barista was as good as his word. Once the money changed hands, he led her into the back room so she could study the security-camera feeds.

The bait had been well-chosen, she reflected as she watched the footage. The woman was nothing special in terms of beauty, but she had an engaging smile and a bookish air that would no doubt have put Will instantly at his ease with her. A more attractive, less intelligent type would probably have set off alarm bells with him, given the setup.

And a _setup_ was precisely what it had been. Magnus watched the girl buy two coffees, dose one with something, and then read while waiting for Will. Some idle conversation, then several tests of some sort. By the middle of the second battery, he was clearly impaired. Probably too much so to realize that anything was wrong.

Damn it!

"How much did she pay you to ignore what was happening?" she demanded of the barista. "_Don't you give me that!_" she ordered in response to his innocent look, fixing him with the kind of threatening glare that only came with 150+ years of practice. "_How much?_"

He told her and she would not have entirely blamed him for providing the GHB himself. No, not GHB; the salty taste would have alerted Will to its presence in the coffee. Rohypnol or one of its relatives was more likely. When they had any aftertaste at all, benzodiazepines tended to have a slightly sweet one which the cappuccino would have masked completely.

"I could go to the police right now," she told the barista. "You're a party to felony kidnapping. Convicted felons are ineligible for federal student loans. Were you aware?"

His eyes widened and he swallowed hard. She resisted the urge to smile. Human beings could be so _predictable_.

"Did he get into a car with her after they went outside? Was he resisting at all?"

He shook his head. "Looked like she was holding him up by the time they left. They both got into the back of a black van."

"With a driver? _She_ wasn't driving?"

"No." He shook his head. "There were at least three other people. A driver and two guys who helped her get everything into the van."

"A single car?"

"Uh, the streets were pretty dead, except there were a couple of black SUVs around."

No, that wasn't the Cartel's MO at all…

She rewound the security camera until she had a good face-shot of the young woman.

"I'll need a print-out of this. And access to the outside security cameras."

"I'm sorry, but the only cameras showing the street outside are police traffic-cams. We don't have access to those."

She frowned and pulled out her phone, relaying the location and time she needed to Henry who promised to get back to her with all the information that came back once he had the plates.

The barista gave her a printout of the woman's face, looking extremely nervous. Guilty conscience. She made a point of giving him a look that only compounded his obvious discomfort. Young idiot!

She handed him a business card. "If that woman or those men come back here, you call me _immediately_. If I find out that they've been here and you didn't call me, you _will_ be made to pay. Do you believe me?"

He took one look at her expression and nodded hastily. "I swear, if they come back, I'll let you know!"

She spent a few more minutes intimidating the young man before sweeping out of the coffee shop, clutching a picture of the woman and making a mental note to get Ashley to come back and shake down the barista again on general principle.

0101010

Henry was more than happy to hack into the police database to try to match the woman in the picture to a known criminal, but Magnus thought it might well prove to be a waste of time. The Cabal did not need to employ petty convicts. They had mercenaries of a different caliber altogether.

Ashley cut short her recon in the sewers, stopping back at the Sanctuary only long enough to be briefed on the situation and get pictures of the woman and her accomplices, which Henry had managed to get from the traffic-cam. DMV records were a dead end, which she and Henry spent a few minutes complaining about. Then she set off to rough up anyone who got between her and the answers they needed.

Magnus went to her lab, powering up the computer and starting to dig into Will's history. Past associations, any way his abnormality might have come to public attention, enemies, _friends_…

Anyone who might have insight into what could have happened to him. She wanted, more than anything, to believe that Will had not come to Cabal attention for his unique ability to know the unknowable. Especially not after his first, narrow escape. Better for him to be kidnapped by some criminal he had helped put away.

What she saw was not encouraging. Will could not have had any idea that his problem-solving skills were abnormal; he would never have made them so _public_ if he had. But there he was, all over the internet. He had all-time high scores for Sudoku and puzzle games on two different gaming sites. He belonged to several groups on various social networking sites that got together periodically to crack codes and solve mysteries. And, as in life, he was known among these communities for his ability to see what others simply could not.

"Oh, Will, you little fool," she sighed, shaking her head. If she could glean this much about his abnormality from a cursory web-search, she hesitated to think what she might find by digging deeper.

_He had indirectly helped develop code-breaking software for the Department of Defense?_

"Hell," she muttered, shaking her head.

It was not just the damage his ability could do in the wrong hands. It was not even _mostly_ that. It was the fact that she had never known, never even tried to _find out_. If she had acted with sense, looked at more than just Will's professional record in deciding to hire him, even just put him on his guard against future Cabal attempts on him, she could have spared him from all of this…


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Will moaned as he woke up, his head splitting. Several questions came to mind, mostly along the lines of:

_How much did I have to drink?_

_Who are all these people?_

_Why am I naked?_

Which was more amusing before he realized that he was:

_Not alone, _and

_Naked. _

He raised his hands to his face, looking around the… hospital room? He was covered, but naked underneath, his clothes nowhere in sight. When his hands reached his face, his fingers encountered electrodes.

"Don't you dare remove those," a vaguely familiar woman directed, swatting his hands away. "Took me half an hour to get those positioned properly."

"You're doing an EEG on me? What happened?"

"What do you remember?"

"Uh…" He searched his memory for a moment, coming up against a fuzzy wall. "Not a lot."

"Anterograde amnesia," she told him. "It's nothing to worry about."

"_Anterograde amnesia?_ What the hell happened?"

"You were drugged. Don't worry about it," she urged. "Just go along with what needs to be done and I'm guaranteed that you'll be out of here in no time." She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before asking, "Should I restrain you?"

"You're asking _me_? You don't do the kidnap thing often, do you?"

"No profiling," she answered, shaking her head. "I'm a psychologist, so I know the tricks. Just don't even _try_ unless you want me to shoot you full of Seconal."

"If you're taking requests, I prefer Tuinal."

She smiled weakly. "I'll bear that in mind, Doctor Zimmerman."

"What do you want with me?" he asked.

"To understand how your brain works."

"I don't suppose it occurred to you just to ask?"

"My employers said you would be reluctant to cooperate."

"Employers?"

"They call themselves the Cabal," she told him.

"And what do they want with me?" _This time…_

"I told you, to understand how your brain works. Look, don't worry. It's just some brain mapping. Completely non-invasive."

"And if I decide not to cooperate?"

"Then I imagine they'll force you to." She looked genuinely troubled by this prospect. "Come on, Will, it's not as bad as all that. You already agreed to undergo these same tests when you thought I was an independent researcher."

"Yeah, which was before I learned you were working for a bunch of evil scumbags," he answered, sitting up.

His head was swimming, but he refused to lay back down. He knew he had to get out of here, but could not seem to muster much in terms of an emotional response to the situation. He started going through a mental list of drugs that could cause flat affect.

"Don't, Will," she pled, casting a quick, anxious look at the door. "Look I don't know who these people are, but I don't think it would be too wise to argue with them."

"You know, it's funny. I work for an 'independent researcher', myself. And she would never in a million years dream of kidnapping someone and trying to force them to cooperate in her understanding of them."

"Don't make me sedate you," she muttered halfheartedly.

"You're a _psychologist_. You have no business trying to medicate _anyone_."

"I still will, if I have to. The money these people are paying me, I won't have to worry about grant proposals for the next twenty _years_. I'm supposed to turn down that kind of offer?"

"Now that you're in their sights, they wouldn't let you walk away if you _wanted_ to," he told her. "Just hope your soul's worth the price of admission."

"You get sanctimonious with me, I _will_ sedate you," she promised. "I don't need this shit. I just want to get this done and get back to my real research."

"What exactly are you trying to do here?" he asked, glancing around the room.

One-way glass. They were probably being closely observed from the next room. This being the Cabal, they were no doubt being observed from the next room by men with guns.

"I need to figure out how your brain works, then I need to figure out how to replicate it."

"Replicate it?" he repeated, staring at her. "You can't _replicate_ something like that. Every last person on the planet has a brain that works differently from every _other_ person."

"You'll display _unique_ differences. I just have to learn to replicate those."

"To what purpose?"

"That isn't my business." She shook her head and turned away, walking to a table piled high with folders and boxes. "We'll start with the EEG, although we'll have access to imaging as well. Step one is to discover what parts of your brain are active while you perform various tasks."

"And if I don't cooperate?" he asked.

"Then I dose you with something to make you more pliable. Your responses will be slowed, your instinct and intellect blunted, but I'll still be able to draw certain conclusions about you. In time, you'll no doubt end up with such an extreme case of Stockholm that you'll be _eager_ to help."

"You're a scientist," he breathed. "How can you participate in kidnapping and coercion?"

She ignored the question. "Are you hungry? I don't want low blood glucose levels interfering with your test results."

"Starving," he answered, in spite of his growing nausea. _Anything_ to keep the Cabal from dissecting his brain, even if only with imaging scans. He just needed time.

_Magnus, __**come on**__!_

She would rescue him, _had_ to. She and Ashley and Henry would be on the case, looking for him. Magnus would ask all the right questions and Ashley would kick all the right asses and Henry would back them both up, providing all the right information and all the right material support. And, between the three of them, they would find him and he would be all right.

"I'll have some food sent in," she told him, walking to the door.

"Hey, what's your name?" he asked.

"Alice."

"Alice," he repeated. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"So do I."

"Just try to remember, this isn't your fault. Everything that happens here, it's on the Cabal."

She regarded him with wide eyes. The eyes, he thought, of a woman who had sold her soul and damn well _knew_ it. She was doubtful, _guilty_. He might still get her to help him, if he played it right. Assuming it did not put her in danger. He had no intention of getting _anyone_ in the Cabal's bad graces, no matter the personal price.

Alone in the room, he sat up again. And immediately regretted it. Whatever drug had been used to pacify him, they had given him a _lot_ of it. He had all the classic side-effects seen with many tranquilizers: weakness, headache, grogginess, blunted emotions, dizziness, nausea.

The dizziness was bad, but the nausea was worse. Hangover or overdose? He gingerly left the bed in search of an antiemetic, hanging onto a series of flat surfaces for support as he crossed the room.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Alice demanded, returning to the room. She hurried to Will's side and hustled him back into the bed. "You aren't strong enough to be up and about."

"I'll buy that," he agreed. "But I _really_ need something for my stomach."

"Nauseous? I'll give you a shot of chlorpromazine."

"Uh, that's an antipsychotic," he pointed out.

"It has antiemetic properties. It'll help with the anxiety you're liable to start feeling once the benzos wear off, too," she answered, opening a drawer and pulling out a vial and a syringe.

"You honestly think you're going to get valid answers about my brain-function if you dose me with _thorazine_ first?"

"I'll have plenty of time to figure out how your mind works," she answered, prepping the syringe.

"Uh, you _do_ realize that IV administration isn't generally recommended?"

"It'll go to work faster," she answered , shrugging. "Would you relax? I took psychopharmacology. I know what I'm doing."

"If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn't be injecting me with thorazine for a stomachache!"

"In a few minutes," she told him, "you aren't going to care about my competence one way or the other, Will. Now, are you going to try and fight me? Before you answer, bear in mind that we are, at all times, being watched by several very large men who, as far as I can tell, aren't even remotely opposed to the use of physical force to get their point across. Do we understand each other?"

Will sighed, sent another prayer in the direction of Helen Magnus, and offered Alice his arm.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Magnus stood on a parapet of the North Tower, watching the city below and wondering where Will was. And how he was holding up. God only knew what the Cabal was doing to him, what their plans for him were. Nothing good, that much was certain.

"Hey."

She sighed and looked over her shoulder. "Hello, Ashley. Any luck?"

"Very little," Ashley answered, frowning. She walked over and sat down on the battlement next to where her mother was standing, swinging her legs over open air. "It was kind of odd, really. I'm getting the impression that people _know_ what's going on, but that they're too scared of the Cabal to say anything to us."

"That doesn't help," she muttered, allowing a pained expression to cross her features.

"I know. I'm going to head back out in a little bit, try again."

"Bring cash with you. That might help."

"Doubt it," Ashley answered, making a face. "I was kind of hands on today. Somehow, I don't see a reasonable approach working much better."

Magnus considered this. "And there was no way to intimidate the information out of them?"

Ashley shook her head. "God knows I tried, Mom. Thing is, I may beat up someone who isn't cooperating with me, but everyone out there knows that I'll leave their _families_ alone."

"Whereas the Cabal has no such compunctions."

"Right," Ashley sighed, nodding.

"I should have seen this coming," Magnus whispered.

"Oh, come on, Mom. How _could_ you have? You're immortal, not all-seeing."

"Yes, but, had I acted differently, I almost certainly could have taken actions to prevent this!"

"Steps to prevent the Cabal from being evil? I don't think so, Mom."

"I could have put Will on his guard against another attempt by the Cabal. Even not knowing he was an abnormal, I _should_ have done!"

Ashley shook her head. "Will's not like us. He's not made to be suspicious of everyone all the time. It's not who he _is_. You change that about him, and you're taking away an important part of what makes him special in the first place."

"I know. Still…"

"Mom." Ashley climbed to her feet and sidled up onto the parapet next to her. "We'll _find_ him," she promised, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Now let's get you inside. Your skin's like ice."

"I'll be fine for a little longer yet."

Ashley regarded her thoughtfully for a moment, then asked, "What are you thinking?"

Magnus smiled. Trust her daughter to hit the nail on the head. The North Tower at night _was_ where she came to think, usually when the thoughts were too painful to face in the light of day.

"I was thinking that, before you and Henry and Will, I was empty. At the time, it almost seemed like a good thing, a way not to hurt. But now I don't think I could go back to living that way if I _wanted_ to. And I _don't_." She looked down at her daughter and admitted something she thought she never would, "I'm afraid, Ashley."

"Me, too, Mom." Ashley rested her head on Magnus' shoulder. "But we're going to get through this. I promise."

She smiled. "Stop pretending to be wise and patient. I know that, deep down, you'd like to go out and break something."

"Some_one_, actually," Ashley answered with an impish smile. "If I only knew _who_. And don't tell me that you don't want to do the exact same thing."

"Of course I do, dear," she agreed. "Which is why I need to know where the Cabal is keeping Will."

"He may not even be in the _city_ anymore," she pointed out.

"I'm praying that they're as cocky as they've always seemed. If they _are_, their desire for expediency will outweigh that for security and they will have taken Will somewhere close. We have to hang on to that hope."

"It's a good hope," Ashley whispered. "Look, Mom, if I have to walk this city end to end, I _will_ find him."

"I have faith in you." She kissed the top of her head. "Now run along. Mind you touch base with Henry. He has a new tracking system he's been itching to try out."

"You got it, Mom. Stay strong." Ashley kissed her, gave her arm a punch, then jumped down from the battlement and headed inside.

Magnus smile after her, feeling immeasurably better. After a hundred and fifty odd years, it was easy to forget that she was no longer alone in the world. Ashley was able to remind her of that fact. The way Henry did. The way Will had…

Shaking herself, she stepped down and went to her office, picking up her phone and dialing the Rome Sanctuary house.

"It's Helen again," she said when the line was answered. "I need all available information on known Cabal research, especially anything pertaining to cognition, problem solving, or logic. Also, a list of known female employees and associated would be invaluable."

"We'll get right on it, Doctor Magnus."

"Good. Send everything you find to Henry Foss."

"Understood, Doctor. Will there be anything else?"

She considered for a moment. "Yes. I want a list of every grant awarded for research in those fields in the past six months or due to be awarded in, say, the next three. Even the unofficial ones. _Especially_ those. Candidates, not just recipients."

"That'll take more time, Doctor, but we'll get the information to Henry as it becomes available."

"Very good. And keep an eye open for _any_ unexpected activity from the Cabal."

"We always _do_, these days."

"Wise of you. And escalate to security level two, just in case. This could represent a first strike in a broader offensive against Sanctuary affiliates."

"No one's going to like _that_ news, Doctor."

"No, I imagine not. It should be noted that a particular threat exists against our abnormal friends and members."

"Understood, Doctor." Spoken with more than a little fear. "We'll give the order to secure all facilities immediately."

"Very good. And alert active field personnel that they may be required _here_ soon."

There was a long pause. "That directly contravenes the protocols laid down for alert level two. Those men and women will be needed to protect their local safe-houses."

"A threat to one abnormal is a threat to _all_. And the Sanctuary takes care of its own. Tell them to be ready."

"Understood, Doctor."

"Thank you. Call me if you notice anything unusual at any of the local houses."

"Roger Wilco. Rome Sanctuary out."

Magnus sighed as she hung up the phone. Mobilizing internationally was a measure that had not been taken before. But there _were_ plans in place. The Cabal could _not_ be allowed to push around Sanctuary employees _or_ their guests. Enough was enough, already. The Sanctuary had looked the other way long enough.

As Henry might have phrased it, it was time for the abnormals to take back the night…

0101010

Will cooperated with the tests. Resisting just didn't seem worth the effort. Not after the first shot of thorazine or the subsequent IV drip of the drug. Besides, Alice was just an incredibly laid-back woman with a genuine interest in cognitive psychology. Helping her was a pleasure.

Or maybe the pleasure was in the additional drugs she administered every time he did what she wanted. Either was possible and the real reason just didn't _matter_ that much. The point was that doing what Alice said led to a positive net result. For instance, the minute he stopped arguing with her, she gave him a hospital-gown and bathrobe. Which was helpful because the exam-room was absolutely _freezing_.

"I feel like my response time is slower," he told her after one test. He had lost count of how many there had been or even what they had _been_.

"Yes, I'd noticed that," she agreed. "But I can compensate in my results. Besides, even stoned on your ass, your EEG results are really fascinating."

"Yeah?"

"I've never seen brainwaves like this. You're something unusual, Will."

"You sure?"

"Definitely. For instance, did you know that delta waves predominate, even when you're awake?"

"That's not typical for a sane adult."

"No, but it's exceedingly common in small children. Whose minds work in a completely different way than those of adults. A great deal of research indicates that children are more open to psychic and other phenomenon."

"I'm not psychic."

"I know," she agreed, nodding. "But you're still unique. And that's what I want to understand about you."

"Good luck with that. You don't think it could be the drugs?"

"Delta waves increase in states of intoxication," she allowed. "But not to this extent. Even in heavily-drugged, half-conscious mental patients, you don't expect to see this kind of delta activity in an adult. Besides, you show higher-than-expected type two theta wave activity as well, which corresponds with alertness, not intoxication. It's _fascinating_."

"Sounds worth looking into," he admitted. "You do know that the Cabal is using you?"

"As I am using them. It works out."

"What's the pay-off for you?"

"Human subjects and no ethics committee to get through." She shrugged. "What more can any researcher ask for?"

There was a time when he would have had an answer to that, but that time was past. Ethics committees _could_ be a royal pain to deal with, after all.

His thoughts turned to Magnus, who seemed to have her own built-in ethics committee. All the amazing individuals she worked with. And while greater knowledge in general was her goal, the good of her patients was _always_ her primary consideration. It was a big part of what made the abnormals so comfortable with her. She was passionate about their welfare and it showed.

"What are you thinking about?" Alice asked.

"Woman I know. Why?"

"You're smiling."

"Oh." He nodded. "Guess I am. She's an amazing woman."

"Would you like to tell me about her?"

"No. She's special and my thoughts about her are my own."

"Suit yourself. Okay, ready for more tests?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really."

"Okay, then. What next?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Magnus was drawing up a dose of medication when Henry entered her office.

"Whoa, what's that?" he asked, staring at the vial and syringe in her hands with wide eyes.

"Modafinil," she told him.

"Yeah, you want to say that in English?"

"It stimulates the production of monoamines and hypothalamic histamine."

"Ah, that explains _everything_," he answered, still staring at the needle like he had found her in the process of injecting herself with arsenic.

"It's a wakefulness promoting agent," she clarified. "Did you need something, Henry?"

He frowned. "You're shooting speed?"

"I am doing no such thing," she answered, finding a vein. "They aren't even in the same chemical family."

"Uh, right… Is it safe?"

"Of _course_ it's safe, Henry. This country's military has been using it for years."

"Yeah, that's… not remotely comforting."

She shook her head, giving herself the shot. "Did you _need_ something, Henry?" she repeated.

"Uh, yeah." He approached her desk, handing her a folder. "Hacked into a couple of spy satellites like you asked. Have three locations just outside of the city that look good as possible Cabal facilities based on the amount of security."

"Well done, Henry," she answered, scanning the print-outs.

"Ashley's already on her way to check them out."

"Very good." She nodded. "See if you can't improve the image resolution so we can read the license plates, maybe find a match to the van observed taking Will."

"Already on it," he assured her.

"Wonderful." She flashed him a smile. "Are you holding up okay, Henry?"

He shrugged. "Worried about Will."

"As are we all. If you should need to talk about it, you know where to find me."

"Thanks, Doc. And ditto. You know, if _you_ need to talk or anything."

"I'll bear that in mind, Henry. Thank you."

"I'll get back to work now."

She watched him go, shaking her head. He hid it well, as Ashley did, but she knew that both were deeply affected by Will's absence. In a very short time, the young psychiatrist had insinuated himself into every aspect of life at the Sanctuary, touched lives and hearts. _Especially_ hearts. Henry had grown close to the young psychiatrist, one of his few males friends. For that matter, one of his few friends, _period_. One of Ashley's few friends, too, come to that.

She made a mental note to keep a close eye on both until Will's recovery, then went back to reading the CCs of the documents the Rome Sanctuary's administrative team had complied so far. Her answer was in here somewhere. All she had to do was _find_ it. In a virtual sea of paperwork…

0101010

"How long have you known you were an abnormal?" Alice asked Will. They were sitting in a small room, empty except for the table between them, and Alice was leafing through a folder as she spoke.

He shook his head. "I'm _not_ an abnormal."

"These are the PET scans I took of you this morning," she answered, placing several films before him.

Will stared. "That's _me_?"

She nodded.

He looked again. His brain was lit up like a Christmas tree. "That's… not normal."

"No," she agreed. "I won't repeat the old fallacy that the average human only uses ten percent of their brain, because we both know it's bull. However, your brain shows considerably more activity and considerably more _intense_ activity, even at rest. Will, you _are_ an abnormal. It's time to accept that."

He nodded slowly. "How am I going to break this to Helen?" he wondered.

"You think she doesn't already _know_?" Alice scoffed.

"If she'd known, she would have _said_ something."

"Would she have?" She shook her head. "Will, the woman's the world's leading expert on abnormals. And, try to remember, _she_ approached _you_. I think it's fair to say she knew who, and _what_, she was signing on."

"No. Magnus wouldn't…"

"Wouldn't she?" She smiled and patted his hand. "You're upset, Will. Hit the button."

He picked up the button attached to his IV line and absently obeyed her, delivering another dose of… _something_ into his bloodstream.

"Let's look at these scans, see what they suggest," she directed.

"Neuroanatomy was never my strong suit."

"Then allow me to explain. See this area here? Ground zero?" She pointed to the area of greatest brain activity on one of the scans. "That's your frontal lobe. Problem solving, sequencing, attention. It doesn't tell me _everything_ I need to know, but it's a good start."

"I don't know. So much of the brain is so overactive I don't see how you can _begin_ to guess where any activity originated."

"Well, for the time being, _guessing_ is going to be _exactly _what I have to do. I'd appreciate it if you didn't share that, by the way. It helps if the powers that be think I know what I'm doing?"

"_Do_ you?"

She shrugged blithely. "Not particularly, but there's plenty of time to learn on the job." She climbed to her feet. "Look, I need to go make my report. You want a book or something?"

"Could do with a snack."

"That's the drugs talking, Will. But I'll have something sent in. You be a good boy while I'm gone. I'd hate to have to restrain you. It would really make our work less pleasant for both of us."

"Can't have that. Magnus always says that we should avoid any unpleasantness with our patients."

"Doctor Magnus sounds like a wise woman. See you later, Will." Grinning at him, she gathered together her papers and left him alone.

Alone, Will sighed, bored. They could at least have left him a TV or a radio or something. Well, he supposed he could always take another nap. One of the few unpleasant side-effects of the drugs they had him on was that he always seemed tired. Shrugging, he went into the other room and climbed back into the hospital-bed, turning down the lights and closing his eyes.

He opened them again almost immediately. "She wouldn't have lied to me," he said to no one in particular, his voice wavering and breaking just a little. "She _wouldn't_ have," he repeated more firmly.

But a little voice in the back of his mind wanted to know, _Wouldn't she have, Will? Why not? She's all about secrets, isn't she? Really? She's only ever told you about herself what you've already figured out. Why should she be more open with __**your**__ secrets?_

0101010

"Henry," a quiet voice entered his awareness, waking him up.

He moaned and sat up, feeling guilty. A satellite print-out stuck to the side of his face as he straightened and he pulled it free irritably.

"Uh, sorry, Boss."

"No, Henry, _don't_ be," Magnus answered gently, taking his arm and helping him to his feet. "Let's get you to bed."

"Can't. I still about fifty pages of grant information to go through, and--"

"No, Henry," she interrupted, shaking her head. "I insist. You're useless to us all if you collapse from exhaustion. It's only a few hours to dawn. You need _some_ sleep. I've already sent Ashley to bed. I want you to get at least a _little_ sleep before you start again."

"But, Will…"

"Is probably asleep himself at this hour. I seriously doubt that whatever the Cabal wants with him and his abilities involves sleep deprivation. Come on, Henry. I'll walk you upstairs."

Henry let himself be led knowing that, even when she was acting all gentle, Helen Magnus was not a woman to take no for an answer.

"I must be more tired than I thought," he yawned as they walked. "I thought I heard you say something about Will's _abilities_?"

"We'll discuss it at the morning briefing," she promised. "Suffice it to say for now that we've all known since the beginning that Will was special, perhaps even unique."

"True," he agreed, giving another yawn. "Damn, Boss, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Being an abnormal doesn't mean that you don't have needs. You should heed the messages your body sends you."

"The way _you_ do?"

"That's quite enough from you, young pup!" she countered, opening his bedroom door and steering him inside. "Now, do I need to stay and tuck you in the way I used to?" she teased.

"Thanks, Boss, but I think I'm good."

She nodded and turned for the door again, stopping in the threshold. "Henry?"

"Yeah?" he asked, pulling off his shirt and turning down the covers.

"I shall know if you _haven't_ slept, so don't get any ideas about sneaking down to the lab after I've stopped moving around up here. I already told Ashley and now I'll tell you. Recovering Will is important. It is also most _likely_ if we are all in peak condition. That means getting _sleep_ when we need to. If it becomes necessary, I _will_ sedate one or both of you before I'll let you work yourselves to the point of exhaustion."

"This from the woman I caught injecting stimulants earlier tonight?" he demanded, turning to stare at her. "Come on, Doc! How is that fair?"

"I've been doing this kind of thing for over a hundred years now. I think I know my own limits better than a pair of infants like you and Ashley know yours." She frowned at him, taking a step closer. "Do you doubt me, Henry?"

He took a hasty step backwards, but there was nowhere to go because the bed was there. He landed on it with a startled cry, staring up at her with wide eyes. The last time he had seen _that_ look in her eyes was the time in upstate Maine when a Wendigo threatened a then-teenaged Ashley.

"I don't doubt you, Boss," he answered honestly, willing his heart to slow down. "Scared _of_ you and _for_ you, but not entertaining the slightest shadow of anything resembling doubt."

He reached for the bottle of valium he kept on his bedside table and helped himself to a couple to make sleeping easier than it would have been if he were just laying there in the dark worrying about Will and thinking of the things the Cabal had done to him the last time.

Her expression softening, she walked over to the bed and lightly touched his cheek. "We'll get him back, Henry, I promise you. He's family now and, strange though this particular family is, we _do_ take care of our own."

"I know," he whispered, nodding. "I trust you, I _do_. I'm just worried about you is all."

"Less worrying about _me_, if you please," she answered, bending and kissing his forehead. "I promise you, I know what I'm doing. When I need to sleep, I shall. I'm no fool, and I certainly won't undermine our chances of recovering Will by risking being out of commission at some vital moment."

"Glad to hear it." He smiled up at her. "I don't say it a lot, but I think you know how important you are to me."

She smiled and nodded. "Lay down. I'll tuck you in."

He obeyed, allowing Magnus to pull the covers up and smooth them down around him. "How's Ashley holding up?" he wanted to know.

"She has a lot of anger, Henry, but there's nothing new there. I gave her something to help her sleep. It _might_ have been a little stronger than she was expecting," she added with an innocent expression. "We probably won't see her until noon."

Henry chuckled. "That _won't_ help her anger issues, Boss."

"No, I imagine not. But it will hardly be the first time Ashley and I have fought. She _did_ ask me for a sedative. It's not my fault if she's wasn't dreadfully specific. I may not trust _you_ much more than I do her, but the Valium will do a reasonable job of making sure you get _some_ sleep." She touched his forehead. "Better still, it will keep you from worrying so much."

"Aw, come on, Doc. Worrying's what I'm _good_ at."

"_Too_ good at it, sometimes. Try to lay it aside for one night. I need you to have a clear mind come morning."

"I'll do my best. Wake me up if anything new develops."

"Naturally," she agreed. "And no more valium for six hours," she reminded him, giving his shoulder a light squeeze then leaving him alone in his room.

Alone in the darkened room, Henry sighed. The alarm clock told him that it was four in the morning, which made today Friday. He and Will had a standing date on Friday nights to watch old science fiction, of which both men had an extensive DVD collection. Tonight, they had planned on Stargate. Both men agreed: not only was it a great show, but that Carter chick was _hot_. Strangely familiar, but undeniably hot.

It seemed unlikely to Henry that Will would be home in time for it. There was always Doctor Who on Saturday to look forward to, but it wasn't really about the Sci Fi at all. It was the company, the _friendship_. The fact that a guy who had never ever _seen_ a decent abnormal less than a year ago had accepted Henry as an honorary brother, and at a time when he had still been having difficulty accepting _himself_.

Henry bit his lip, not even bothering to wipe away the tears flowing freely down his cheeks. When he had been a boy, torn between two worlds but not really belonging to either, Doctor Magnus had told him a secret:

_Tears cleanse the soul, my love._

Well, the way he was feeling right now, his soul would be as clean as the fresh-driven snow by morning. Having never known what he was missing, he found himself terrified at the prospect of being without it, even for the few days that were probably all it would take to recover Will. He wanted his best friend back, _needed_ to know that he was safe. And, in the absence of that, all he could do was weep like that confused, frightened child.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Bear in mind," Alice told that board of directors, "these findings are preliminary."

"Preliminary or not, are they _significant_?" Ms. Whitcomb asked, frowning up at her.

"Oh, undoubtedly, ma'am." Alice nodded. "His ability to absorb and synthesize information is undeniably superhuman. His brain works like none I've studied in the past, either firsthand or in any case-study. Your average neurologist would take one look at these PET scans and wet himself over them."

"Well, we employed you because you are by no means average," Ms. Whitcomb answered. "What can you tell us about how this ability of his works?"

"Very little from a mechanical standpoint. I can point to the regions of his brain that are overactive but, at present, that's about it. Blood work gives me a rudimentary look at some of the chemical underpinnings of the ability, however it's not the most accurate measure. With your permission, I'd like to get a sample of CSF."

"CSF?"

"Cerebrospinal fluid. It cushions the brain and spinal column from shocks. It can also be very telling when it comes to what's going on in the brain."

"Is it safe to attempt to attain a sample?"

She shrugged. "Standard risk of infection that comes with _any_ kind of needle biopsy. Insignificant risk of paraplegia. Oh, but I'd really want to do it without painkillers and it's hellaciously painful."

"Is the latter a matter for concern?"

"Depends on how fast you want him to go Stockholm Syndrome."

"We'll have plenty of time for that later. For now, understanding this talent of his is our key priority."

"May I ask you a question?"

Ms. Whitcomb stared at her steadily.

"File you gave me says you had this guy once before. I don't honestly care one way or the other about _that_, but I could use the results of any tests performed on him during that time."

"None of those tests are remotely relevant. The Cabal was not yet aware of his potential. He was taken for other reasons."

"I see. Thing is… I couldn't help but notice the scar on his neck. I just thought, if you took some samples _back then_."

"No samples were taken. The scar is not relevant to your investigation."

Alice knew better than to push her luck. The Whitcomb bitch looked angry and that was _never_ a good thing. "In that case, I'd also like permission to do a brain-biopsy. Microscopic examination might tell me something that gross measures can't."

"Wouldn't a biopsy carry a risk of brain damage?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "But, hell, you've _got_ to be willing to break a few eggs."

"The Cabal does not currently have access to another individual with his particular abilities. That makes _any_ risk of brain damage unacceptably high."

"Understood. But if you _do_ find another person with his abilities… A biopsy could be highly instructive."

"We'll bear that in mind," she promised.

"Thanks, 'cause I'm willing to bet the results of a microscopic exam would be absolutely _fascinating_. You know, if this guy holds the secret for the cure of Alzheimer's or something, I mean, hello, Nobel Prize!"

"While your contract states that you retain ownership over any discoveries coincidentally made while in our service, the Cabal will _not_ allow you to potentially damage the specimen in pursuit of inconsequential secondary aims."

"Nor would I dream of doing anything so stupid, ma'am," Alice assured her, holding up both hands. "I'm just saying that, if you let me biopsy his brain, it could be good for both of us. You know?"

"I do. And we will consider it, but only as an avenue of last resort. Find out what you can by less invasive means, first. Do not attempt to deceive us as to your progress. A fraudulent attempt to convince us to allow you to biopsy would be _most_ unwise."

"Oh, _that_ I believe," she answered, grinning. "Don't worry. This is still too interesting for me to want to mess up my chances here. _Especially_ not if you're serious about allowing me to implement my eventual findings on others."

"Subjects will be provided as you need them," Ms. Whitcomb promised. "Do you have a gender or age preference?"

"Males Will's age would _probably_ be the place to start, just in terms of the replicablity of the thing. On the other hand, kids would probably teach us more…"

"We should be able to procure both for you."

"Oh, _excellent_! I think I'm going to really enjoy working for you guys."

"Many scientists do. They find the lack of government and academic regulation rather liberating. Now, if you've nothing more to share with us?"

"Back to work it is!" Alice agreed, smiling and saluting the woman before half-jogging from the room.

0101010

Will bit down on his fist hard when the needle punctured his lower back. It hurt like a _mother_, but he knew better than to so much as _twitch_ while the thing was still in his spine.

Tears hot on his face, he asked, "Why no painkiller?"

"Most painkillers operate by altering your brain chemistry, Will, and _that_ would negate the purpose of this." She patted his shoulder, withdrawing the needle.

"And you couldn't give me a local _because_?"

"Uh, right. Just didn't think about it. Would this be a bad time to mention that I don't work with a lot of _living_ people? Most of the people I study are corpses by the time I get them."

"I _really_ didn't need to know that."

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing, just a little rusty on the specifics. You did great, Will. I can give you something for the pain now if you'd like."

"It's a lot better," he assured her. "I mean, it's not _fun_, but it's nothing I can't handle."

"You don't have to be brave," she whispered, resting her hand on his face. "It's okay, Will."

He watched her draw up a syringe and inject its contents into his IV line and found himself missing Magnus. The calm, quiet professionalism that was always so comforting as she patched you up. Those soft, cool hands that could soothe you in the grip of the worst fever. The smile that could bring you up no matter how down you felt. The profound faith you suddenly found yourself feeling just by _looking_ at her.

"Don't cry, Will," Alice urged, patting his cheek again. For a mad scientist, she did 'concerned mother' almost as well as Magnus. "The painkillers will kick in soon and everything will seem all right. Why don't you try to get some sleep, okay?"

He lifted a hand to his face, feeling the tears there. He had not been aware he was crying again until she mentioned it. Everything just seemed so _detached_. No emotion, not even any real _interest_ in his situation. Even his body did not entirely seem his own any more.

"Whatever you're giving me, Alice, you need to rein in the dosing. I'm starting to dissociate. You aren't going to get the answers you want if I'm not even in my own brain anymore."

"I'll take that recommendation under advisement," she answered. "Now, get some rest. I'll be in the other room studying this." She waggled the syringe full of CSF, looking quite pleased with herself. "I'm going to figure you out yet, Will."

"Good luck with that," he answered, closing his eyes and rolling onto his stomach.

His back was killing him, but the last thing he needed was more drugs. He was never going to get out of here if he could not even _focus_ for five minutes. Insidiously, there was a part of him that did not even _want_ to escape. It just didn't seem worth the effort when, for the most part, he felt _good_ right where he was. Better than he usually felt at the Sanctuary, to be quite honest.

Except for the lack of friends.

"Okay," he murmured. "Plan A…"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"What the hell did you give me?" Ashley demanded, storming into her mother's office. It was easily noon and she was _not_ happy.

"Ashley, please," Magnus sighed, gesturing to her computer screen. "I'm in the middle of a conference."

Ashley grabbed the computer screen and flipped it to face her, revealing the bemused face of the director of the Rome Sanctuary.

"Morning, Aunt Stella," she greeted the woman with a false smile. "Can I have a moment alone with my mother?"

Stella nodded slowly. "I'll just be checking my email."

"Thanks." Ashley covered the computer's speaker with her finger before demanding of her mother, "What's the big idea?"

"You were exhausted. You needed sleep. I stand by my actions."

"You _would_! I could have tracked Will down by now!"

"Or run yourself the rest of the way into the ground. And we haven't been idle while you were resting. I've managed to prevail upon several of our contacts to scout out the locations you didn't have time to cover yesterday."

"Oh." Ashley nodded. "Right."

"Now, Henry's had no luck tracking down those SUVs, so I can only assume that the plates have switched out since Will was taken. It's a long-shot, but I need the area around the campus searched."

"For three license plates someone threw away? Right, easy." She nodded again. "You sure there's not some insanely violent sewer-monster that needs catching?"

"I'm afraid not." She shook her head, her expression apologetic. "Nor, in all honesty, do I expect you to find those license plates. Keep an eye open, by all means, but I need other information more. Anyone who saw anything the morning Will was taken, anyone who might know the woman who took him. The barista was useless."

"Worse than useless, obstructive bastard," Ashley grumbled. "So, information?"

"I'm hopeful that you'll have more luck with college students than someone my age. I haven't been able to relate to people your age in almost a hundred and thirty years."

She let herself smile at that. "And I'm guessing that, since they're civilians, you don't want me roughing them up to get what we need?"

"I really have my hands rather full at the moment to take the time to bail you out."

"Point taken. And, if I have to grease any palms?"

"Money's in the safe," she answered. "Now, if you don't mind, I _was_ in the middle of a conference."

"Henry says he saw you injecting something yesterday," she said quickly before her mother could become otherwise occupied.

"Ah. I was hoping he would forget to mention that."

"I'll bet you were." She folded her arms over her chest. "What gives?"

"This is a time of crisis. Strong leadership is required."

"Mom, I care about Will as much as you do, but him going missing is hardly the kind of worldwide insanity that _usually_ gets you pushing yourself to the edge."

"Did you remember to take your pills this morning?"

"Yeah. Don't change the subject."

"Ashley." She sighed and closed her eyes. "The situation is… it's more complicated than I think you realize."

"So, enlighten me. Something going on between you and Will I should know about?"

"Ashley, don't be ridiculous!"

"Then _what_? Why are you acting like it's apocalypse-time again?"

"The Cabal continues to grow in power and, as they do, our position becomes more and more tenuous."

She frowned, considering her mother thoughtfully for a moment. "Time to put them in their place?"

"Or at least to put them on notice."

Ashley nodded. "Understood. I'll get going. Call me if anything changes."

"Of course I will, dear. Keep yourself safe."

"Always."

"Help yourself from the safe and, if you can't reach me, relay your findings back to Henry. He knows I'll be in meetings most of the day, but he also knows to interrupt me the second anything comes up."

"Right, Henry's the contact-man. One of you call me if anything comes up on this end."

"Naturally."

Receiving this promise from her mother, Ashley left the office and headed down to the garage.

0101010

A college campus. Ashley looked around and had to suppress a surge of jealousy. People around her own age, without the first _clue_ as to the real shape of the world, with dozens of close friends and confidants and not a care in the world beside the next test or report or practical. Lucky freakin' _bastards_. Too bad her Mom had forbidden her from beating any of them up.

She looked around, examining the groups and individuals lounging around the Commons to see which one would be best to approach next. Will would have _known_. Ashley had to _guess_. She had already approached several dozen people, both in groups and individually, without luck.

Three girls sat on a nearby bench, each clutching a disposable Firefly coffee cup as they chattered away about, from the sound of it, a gorgeous teaching assistant. As she came closer, their giggled conversation made it clear that said gorgeous teaching assistant was not a guy. Ashley allowed herself a laugh and move to join the group.

"Yeah, girls are more aesthetic than guys," she agreed. "But the joysticks still have their uses."

All three girls dissolved into a torrent of laughter that lasted for some minutes.

One of them, a round-faced girl with darting green eyes, composed herself first, smiling up at Ashley. "Join us?" she offered.

"Just for a minute," she agreed, dropping into a crouch next to that girl. "Ash."

"Sarah," the round-faced girl, introduced herself, offering her hand. "And these characters are Mickey and Tabitha."

"Nice to meet you all," Ashley answered, shaking hands all around. She hesitated for a moment, wondering how to broach the topic subtly, then decided that subtlety could be damned. "You guys spend a lot of time at the Firefly?" she asked, indicating their cups.

"Who _doesn't_?" Tabitha wanted to know. "Best coffee in a five-mile radius."

"They amp it up with extra caffeine," the girl called Mickey confided. "Plus, you know, half the baristas there have the hookup for any _other_ stimulant you care to try."

"Mick!" Sarah gasped, smacking her on the back of the head.

"What? She seems cool."

"Look, I don't care what you chicks get up to in your spare time. I was just wondering if you were around there Thursday morning?"

"Who wants to know and why do they care?" Sarah asked, her friendly expression vanishing.

"A good friend of mine was supposed to meet someone there, but he went missing," she answered honestly, sighing. She pulled Will's picture out of her pocket and extended it. "Cops are useless, as usual. And no one who works there's willing to share a damned thing, so I'm kind of stuck. But I want my friend back, and I'll do what it takes to find him."

Sarah examined the picture thoughtfully for some time before shaking her head. "Sorry, haven't seen him. Girls?" She passed it to Tabitha. "Boyfriend?"

"No, nothing like that. But… I care about him more than I ever have about any guy before with one exception. I just want to get him back."

"People don't go missing around here that often," Sarah told her. "You sure he made it this far?"

"Got the security footage to prove he did."

"Huh." She pursed her lips.

Ashley sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble or anything. I have my own beefs with the authorities, to be quite honest. Doesn't help one bit that they're being useless when my friend's in trouble. I just want to know if you've seen him."

All three girls shook their heads but, as Ashley sighed and started to take the picture back, Tabitha told her, "We'll ask around."

"Would you?" Ashley asked, staring at her with wide eyes. "But you don't know who I am or what I really want."

"To help your friend, it seems," Mickey said, shrugging. "Tabs has a good feeling about you, that's enough for me. How can we contact you if someone _has_ seen this guy? You got an email, or…"

Ashley quickly handed them all business cards. "I can't thank you enough."

"Making the world a better place, one person at a time, right?" Sarah asked, shrugging. "If we see him in person, should we tell him you're looking?"

"No harm in that."

"We'll do what we can."

"Thank you all. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it." She started to rise, then stopped and pulled out a second picture. "What about this woman? She's the last person Will was seen with."

Mickey grabbed the printout from her. "Hey, that's Professor Hughes!"

Ashley stared. "She _teaches_ here?"

"Not for a couple years." Mickey shook her head. "Got in trouble with the ethics committee for some unauthorized research. She was good. Had her for Cognitive and Psychophys."

"Professor Hughes?" Ashley repeated. "Anyone know where to find her? I've got some questions for her." And maybe a set of brass knuckles.

"They say she just dropped off the face of the earth since she got canned," Mickey answered. "But they might know more in the Chancellor's office."

"Thank you," Ashley said honestly, climbing to her feet. "I can't thank you ladies enough."

"Good luck finding your friend," Sarah told her. "We'll call you if anyone's seen anything of him."

Ashley thanked them again, profusely, then took her leave.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Four days later, not a lot had changed. No one could recall having seen Will, and Doctor Hughes had stopped leaving a paper-trail months ago. Right after being turned down for a grant to research the physiological underpinnings of the ability to intuitively solve logic problems from point A directly to point Z without needing to go through any of the intermediate steps.

Will must have been the ideal research-subject for such a woman…

There was nothing to indicate that any of the three facilities initially indicated by Henry were in fact Cabal. Nothing to indicate that they _weren't_, but nothing adequate to justify a risky raid on any of them, either.

Nor had there been any action on any other fronts. No other Sanctuary house, nor any employee, patient, or associated abnormal, had been targeted since Will's abduction.

Which Magnus supposed was something. So the threat was against Will specifically and not against the Sanctuary in general. But she still hated the idea of him as a prisoner, subject to God only knew what. Nor was she the only one.

"I say we raid all three places anyway," was Henry's contribution that morning over breakfast.

"If it weren't for Will, I'd say _firebomb_ all three," Ashley muttered.

Magnus was too tired to chastise them. She was, in fact, inclined to agree. But that was probably the fact that she had only gotten a few fitful hours of sleep since this whole mess came to light. The modafinil could only do so much. She was _exhausted_.

"The other Sanctuary houses appear to be safe," she told them. "I think it's time to call in the other field-personnel and stage a full-scale offensive."

"_Now_ you're speaking my language," Ashley told her.

"I want you two to rest up," Magnus continued. "I'll call in the others, but it will be hours before even the closest arrive. I want us all to be fresh for this. We'll raid all three locations at once so there's no advanced warning."

"We'll get some sleep when _you_ do," Henry told her.

She frowned, startled by his sudden assertiveness. Normally, he deferred to her as a sort of Alpha. Ashley was nodding and the Big Guy let out a grunt of agreement. It occurred to Magnus that the three had probably decided in advance that it was time to put their collective foot down.

"I need to contact the other Sanctuaries…"

"Henry and I have it covered," Ashley told her firmly. "Are we going to have to sedate you?"

She sighed. "This is mutiny, Mister Christian."

"You're damn straight it is," Ashley agreed, unrepentant. "You got a problem with that?"

"No, but I have to say that I always thought that if _anyone_ here was going to rebel against my authority, it would have been Will." Her heart gave a little pang. "Sort of thing he would see fit to do, man who once killed me to save my life."

"We'll get him back, Doc," Henry assured her. "Leave it in our hands for now. Don't worry. We'll bring you back off the bench for the end-game."

"You're mixing metaphors, man," Ashley murmured.

"Oh, sorry."

"Seriously, Mom," Ashley agreed. "You look like a damned extra on Night of the Living Dead. Get some sleep. We promise not to storm the castle without you."

"Very well," she sighed, climbing to her feet. "I suppose I _could_ use a few uninterrupted hours of sleep. Otherwise, I'll be quite useless leading this retrieval." She sat down again abruptly. "Damn. There are _three_ facilities…"

"And three of _us_," Ashley answered, grasping her shoulder. "One to lead the raid on each of the three facilities. You're not thinking straight, Mom. Go get some rest."

"We have it covered, Doc," Henry promised. "Come on. It's like you told me that other day. Being abnormal doesn't mean you don't have needs. Also, Ashley sort of hid all the stimulants. Ow!" he protested when the girl leaned across the table and smacked him on the arm. "Come on, Ash, she was going to figure that out eventually."

Ashley conceded this with a shrug. "This is how things are going to go, Mom. You're going to sleep or I _will_ tranq you." She put her hands on her hips. "Do we understand each other?"

Magnus regarded her daughter thoughtfully for a moment, before conceding defeat. Ashley was what Henry might call 'hardcore'. She was not above shooting her own mother with a tranquilizer dart if that was what it took to get the job done. Nor would she feel remotely sorry for it after the fact.

"No field-actions without me," she told them firmly before retreating from the kitchen.

0101010

"Man, I can't believe we just faced down _Helen Magnus_," Henry muttered, shaking his head as they walked to Magnus' office.

"Yeah, well, don't let it make you cocky," Ashley replied grimly. "Because I _seriously_ doubt she's ever going to let us get away with it again."

"You could have something there," he agreed. "Next time, better just tranq her without warning."

"Yeah. That'll go over just great with her. If things were any less serious, I would have just let her push herself to the point of collapse. But we need her to have her head in the game."

"Yeah. So, you take the English-speaking Sanctuaries and I'll talk to the rest?"

"I'll be done before you. I can take some of the Spanish-language ones, too."

"Sounds good. Thanks."

"No problem. You know, not all of them are going to want to send people who might be needed there."

"True," he admitted, shrugging. "But we don't need to be going in with a whole army. That raises _all_ the wrong kinds of notice."

"I hear that," Ashley agreed. "Small tactical teams make more sense. Might even be possible to infiltrate without raising any alarms."

Henry nodded. "That would be nice."

"Once we figure out how many forces we're going to be able to raise, we'll have to come up with a strategy," she told him.

"I've got it covered. Once it became clear those facilities might be Cabal, I hacked into the City's mainframe and grabbed the schematics. No way of knowing how _accurate_ they may be, but it's better than nothing."

"Way better," she agreed, touching his arm. "And the Big Guy's getting the weapons together, so I think that's everything?"

"I need to check and calibrate the field-gear. Don't think I'm going to be getting much sleep between now and the raid. Any chance I can have some of whatever your Mom's been taking?"

"Considering that I don't know what it is or how it interacts with valium? You really want to risk that, Henry?"

"No. But I want to risk dropping the ball when Will's freedom is at stake even less."

She considered this for a long, thoughtful moment, then gave him a weak smile. "Stimulants all around, then."

He shook his head. "No, Ash, I know how you feel about taking meds you don't need."

"_Need_ is the operative term in that sentence, buddy," she pointed out quietly. "This is for _Will_. And, in a way, it's for _you_, too."

Uninvited physical contact was not something that, as a rule, Ashley responded well to. This knowledge did not keep Henry from pulling her into a hug. It probably said something about how upset Ashley was that she hugged him right back without even _pretending_ to resent the intrusion. He had meant it as a quick embrace, but Ashley seemed disinclined to release her tight hold on him and he was honestly appreciative of the comfort her presence offered.

He held the hug longer than he probably had a right to, then reluctantly dropped his hands. "We should probably start contacting the other Sanctuaries."

"Yeah, guess so," she agreed, not looking at him as she absently smoothed her shirt.

"Okay, let's get our game on," he said. "You know, this being Will, we can probably rustle up some backup in the local abnormal community."

"Good point. I'll handle that after we've contacted the other Sanctuaries," she agreed, smacking his shoulder. "Now, let's get down to the med bay and mainline some not-caffeine."

"You hid her drugs in the _med bay_?" he asked, staring at her. "You are _magnificent_!"

"I have my moments," she agreed with a smug grin. "Last place she would look. Come on, Henry. Let's go save our friend."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"You know, Ash," Henry said into his Bluetooth as he calibrated a stun-grenade, "I can see why your mom likes this whatever-you-call-it. No jitters."

Well, no _physical_ jitters, at least. He saw no reason to tell her that, after a few minutes, the drug had made him so nervous he'd needed to pop a valium just to be able to function. It was not something he would want to take again if he could avoid it, but the lack of the kind of tremors that accompanied most stimulants was still impressive.

"_Way_ better than caffeine," she agreed. "But every drug has its drawbacks. Not sure I want to know what it is on something that works this well."

"Big Guy says he looked it up on the internet. Worst side-effect is some gnarly rash. Other than that, looks like nothing worse than headache and occasional nausea."

"Guess that explains why I've been having to chew Excedrin since I took it."

"Oh, Ash, you want to watch that," Henry warned. "You know you're supposed to limit caffeine intake with your blood-pressure."

"Yeah, and _you_ aren't supposed to take stimulants with your anxiety. Yet here we both are."

He sighed. "Any luck recruiting anyone to help?"

"Most of the people I've talked to are scared to move against the Cabal. Just a couple of folders have signed on so far, but they should be pretty useful for infiltration."

"Oh, very nice. And Tibet is sending us three remote viewers."

"Now _that_ ought to come in handy. Any of the other holdouts confirm?"

"Mexico City's sending us Santiago and Cruz, but Reyes and Vargas flat-out refused to leave their Sanctuary unguarded."

"Fair enough. We could have used Vargas, but Santiago's a better fighter than Reyes. Who else?"

"Braxton and Addison from London. Lloyd, Chan, and Xiang from Hong Kong. Reddy, Patel, and Hazra from Mumbai."

"Sounds good. There are some formidable fighters on that list. How many does that bring us up to?"

"Including you, me, and Magnus, twenty-six. Twenty-three if you take the remote viewers out of the equation."

"Which we'd better. They can wait outside with the getaway drivers, direct the teams from there. Hey! Better still, maybe they can narrow down Will's location so we don't have to stage three separate raids."

"Every remote viewer at our disposal is working on it already. By the time things start coming together, we should at least have established whether the facilities in question are actually Cabal."

"Good thinking, Henry. I can't believe none of us thought of it before."

"Yeah, well none of us have exactly been at our best here, Ash. Rome and London both agree that it's probably a good idea to have our remote viewers try to peg down _all_ Cabal facilities. Pending orders from your Mom, of course. Right now, they're all giving their attention to Will and Cabal members in and around the city."

"Great. Okay, I'm heading down into the tunnels and you know what my cell reception is like down there, so I'll call you again later."

"Deal, Ash. Stay safe."

"You're starting to sound like my Mom, man," she laughed before hanging up.

"Yeah, well, your mom has a point about the kinds of danger you like getting yourself into," he muttered to the empty room.

Sighing, he picked up another stun grenade and got back to work.

0101010

"Well, haven't all of you accomplished a great deal while I was asleep," Magnus remarked, entering Henry's lab.

"Afternoon, Boss. Feeling better?" he asked, peering up at her over the top of the sonic canon. Every surface of his lab was littered with equipment and weapons, with more scattered in piles on the floor around him.

"Much, thank you. However, I warn you against attempting another coup, no matter _how_ bloodless." She picked up a pair of goggles, examining them thoughtfully.

"Oh, those. Just finished them last week. They alternate between night-vision and thermal with the flip of a switch, and the thermal mode is sensitive enough to detect temperature variations through three sheets of drywall. Haven't had a chance to field-test them yet, so I'm not sure how _useful_ that'll be…"

"We should probably leave behind the experimental equipment and rely on what we _know_ works," she told him, picking up a small clear plastic cube with some kind of little mechanism inside.

"You got it," he agreed. "Oh, careful with that. It's a flash-charge that could leave us both blind for the next three days."

"Oh, yes. I seem to recall that Ng used these to good effect in the caves of Belize?"

"Sure did. They should cause a fair amount of pain and disorientation even to surface-dwellers." He handed her a pair of what looked like tinted safety-goggles. "The only wavelength of light they block is the one the flash-charges use, so there's no visual impairment from them."

She slid them on and noted that he was right; there was no visible change to the lighting in the room. She took them off again, nodding her approval.

"It's a wise innovation. Certainly more reliable than having to mentally track the time left to activation and then remember to close your eyes."

"Yeah, well, it seemed good enough at the time. It wasn't _my_ fault some of the other Sanctuaries have heavies who couldn't count to ten without getting distracted."

"No one's blaming you, Henry," she assured him, patting his shoulder. "What do we have in terms of devices intended to disable or render unconscious? I want this carried out with a minimum of bloodshed."

"Fair enough." He picked up a plastic gun-like device. "Problem with a conventional taser is its limited range. This circumvents that by eliminating the need for lead-wires. The electrodes hold their charge until they hit something, then discharge it into the target. Also, I used shaped pulses instead of the traditionally-shaped barbs, which means this'll also take down a guy wearing any body armor graded for less than an M2."

She raised an eyebrow, impressed. "And this has been tested?"

"Oh, yeah. Over ninety percent effective in controlled simulations. Ashley's used them twice in the field and not had a problem. Problem is, I haven't had a chance to build anything other than the one prototype."

"One is better than none."

He nodded. "The Big Guy also has about a dozen regular tasers and about twenty stun-guns, and six hundred tranquilizer rounds. Plus some of those coming in from other locations are bringing their own ordnance."

"Very good. Ashley's had luck with the modified taster in the past, so we'll let her use it this time."

"I'll make a note." He held up another device, a black plastic cube. "I know you said nothing that hasn't been proven in the field, but I think we should really consider using _these_."

"Is that your EMP generator?"

"Guaranteed to wipe the hard drive of every computer in a two-block radius. I figure, they've had Will almost a week, they must have _some_ dirt on his abnormality. Plus, you know, even if they _don't_, it'll still be fun."

She smiled. "Wonderful idea, Henry. And I must say how proud I am of the way you and Ashley have conducted yourself throughout this crisis." She smiled at him, squeezing his shoulder.

"Yeah, well…" He shrugged, giving her a shy smile.

"I'll let you get back to work," she offered. "If you require anything, let me know. I'll be in the armory."

"You got it, Boss."

She smiled to herself as she walked from Henry's office to the main armory. Henry and Ashley had both grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, turning from the children she had loved and coddled into independent adults who also happened to be skilled and valuable allies. She could not have wished more from either of them.

Now all they had to do was get Will back in one piece and her strange little family would be together once more. As daunting as the idea of taking on the Cabal was, her faith in Henry and Ashley made her confident that they would succeed in their goal.

"There you are," she greeted Bigfoot as she entered the armory. "Tasers all charged?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Not many of you know Will personally," Magnus told the assembled team gathered together in the sub-basement awaiting orders. "But you don't really _need _to know him. You just need to know that he's one of us and that we've always taken care of our own. Now, this is a volunteer mission, so I don't care if you came here under orders or of your own accord. There's still time to stand down and no one will think the worse of you for it."

"We're with you, Doctor!" shouted Radu, an abnormal Magnus had saved from a frightened mob in Eastern Europe some years ago. "The Sanctuary protects its own."

There were cheers of assent to this and, as Magnus looked around the small crowd, she didn't see a single man or woman who looked reluctant to help. She felt a rush of pride to have brought these men and women together in the first place. They were, in a very real sense, an extremely large, rather odd _family_. And their faith in her was gratifying.

"Very well." She nodded. "Then here's the situation. Our remote viewers have pinpointed the likeliest possible location where Will is being held. The main force will attack that installation, although small teams will still be sent into the other two facilities, which also appear to be Cabal bastions. Our chief objective in those attacks will be to acquire what information we can and then disable the computer systems, while the main attack will seek to both disable the computers _and_ retrieve Will. We'd like to do this all with a minimum of bloodshed."

There was rebellious muttering at this.

Before Magnus could call the dissenters to task, Ashley had pushed her way forward. "Come on, people! These are fellow _human beings_ we're going up against there. Those of you who know me _know_ that I'm the first person to advocate violence when there's no better way, but we can't go around indiscriminately beating the crap out of normal human beings. Not any more than we can allow _them_ to target abnormals just because they're different."

"Half the security guards you're going to run into probably have no real idea of who they're working for or what that really entails," Magnus said. "If we kill them, simply because they are in our way, then we are _every bit_ the monsters outsiders accuse us of being!"

"Hear, hear!" Henry agreed. "And Will wouldn't want us to kill for him anyway. That's not who he is. So let's show the man the respect the Cabal isn't and do this in accordance with _his_ principles."

"Thank you, Henry. Ashley." Magnus nodded. Addressing the crowd once again, "You have your orders. Unnecessary bloodshed will be dealt with as harshly as the Sanctuary _always_ deals with unprovoked violence against _anyone_. Do I make myself clear?"

There were nods and murmurs of agreement, some half-hearted, some downright resentful. Others looked downright _relieved_ by the injunction. She took note of who was who, for future HR reference.

"Team One, Ashley will be leading you. This is a heavily-guarded and rather large facility. We have no idea what's going on there, so acquiring their computer records is vital. If they are holding prisoners, do everything in your power to release them and, if they're willing and able, allow them to fight by your side. Yours is the most daunting task, but you are also some of the best field operatives the Sanctuary can claim. I have every faith in you. Good luck. Move out."

She waited until the noise of their departure had subsided before speaking again.

"Team Two will be jointly led jointly by Qiao Lloyd and Henry Foss. Everything we've been able to divine about this facility indicates a strong technological focus. Qiao will lead the field-operatives while Henry leads the tech team. Recover what you can, destroy or disable the rest. You will not only be aiding the Sanctuary, you will be seriously impeding the Cabal's operations. Have fun," she added, winking at Henry.

"You got it, Boss." He saluted and followed Qiao and the others away.

She looked at her own team, drawing a deep breath. "You all know me. Most of you have served directly under me at some point in the past. I respect each and every one of you, so I'm going to be honest with you now. My reasons for doing this are _at least_ as personal as they are professional."

Dawa Namtso cleared her throat. "Doesn't matter, Helen. You know what we owe you, every last one of us. And even though not all of us are abnormals, not one of us is about to let an abnormal suffer at Cabal hands. They brought the war to _us_, not the other way around. They started it, it's up to us to _finish_ it."

"This is unlikely to be finished any time soon, Dawa," Magnus pointed out gently.

"Not in our lifetimes, maybe, but if it happens in my son's lifetime, it's worth it. If it happens in the lifetime of my grandchildren, it's worth it. I'm not the only abnormal sick of having to hide from the world. We have as much of a right to live our lives in peace as any human. Undermining the Cabal is a vital step down the path to our freedom."

Magnus grasped her shoulder lightly, nodding. "Is that how the rest of you feel?"

There were nods and affirmations all around.

"I may not be an abnormal myself, Doctor," Barid Patel told her. "But my wife is, and Dawa's right. Our children deserve a chance at a normal life."

"Can we end this pep-rally, Helen?" Charles Braxton suggested. "We know what we're getting into here. So let's get it over with."

"All right, then. Let's move out. We'll scatter the moment we're inside. You all have your assignments. Keep your radios on at all times."

"What do we do when the EM pulse kills the wireless, Doctor Magnus?" asked James, a local Folding Man who had volunteered.

"We fall back immediately."

"What if you don't have Will yet?" Patel asked.

"That's unlikely. I trust in Dawa's ability to lead me to him. She's one of the best remote viewers on the planet."

"I'll grant you that, but remote viewing isn't always a hundred percent. What if you don't have him yet?"

"Then the rest of you fall back anyway. I won't risk your lives any further than I have to. Not even for Will."

Braxton turned around and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Problem, Charles?"

"You tell _me_ if we have a problem, old girl."

"None that I can see."

"I see. And, in the event of an emergency?"

"Then you lead the rest of the team to safety, naturally."

"Naturally," he repeated, nodding. "The _rest_ of the team. I understand."

"I'm glad." The others were starting to watch the conversation anxiously, so she cleared her throat and returned her attention to all of them. "Nothing to worry about. Simply establishing chain-of-command. Shall we?"

0101010

"_Jackpot,_" Henry breathed as they entered the facility's server room. "Sarah, Mohammed, start pulling blades."

"Good God, I hope these idiots don't have backup," Sarah moaned happily, moving around the back of the server. "How can they leave them in an unlocked room?"

"The Lord provides," Mohammed noted, smiling at her and pulling a module. "Disassemble this thing, and we won't need the EM bomb."

"We're _using_ the EM bomb," Henry answered, moving to help them. "_After_ we get as many of these as we can out of here. I'm sure this facility has other computers that we need to take out as well." He hit the switch on his headset. "Ben, any luck finding R & D?"

"Tashi says we're close."

"Great. Any resistance yet?"

"Had to tranq two sentries. Eric shoved them in a utility-closet. You?"

"So far, so good. You'd think they'd guard their servers better."

"Seriously doubt they were expecting any trouble from us," Victoria Chan intruded on the conversation. "Are we having fun yet, kids?"

"Maintaining radio contact does _not_ mean chattering incessantly, Vic," Qiao growled. "Let's keep the conversation limited to _necessary_ comments."

"Fair enough. We destroy anything we can't take?" Victoria asked.

"Those are our orders," Henry answered.

"Okay, because I'm in the armory and I am looking at a _lot_ of guns right now. 9mm, .38, M16 and M4, some Kalashnikovs. Classics, those. Can I keep one?"

"Sure, why not. For the others, make a pile, then hit them with thermite," Henry directed. "As you're _leaving_," he added hastily. Victoria Chan was kind of known for leaping before she looked. Magnus would not thank him for allowing her to blow herself up on his watch.

"Big, melty pile of metal on the floor, check. And a Kalashnikov for baby…"

Still pulling blades, Sarah giggled. "God, we are the biggest bunch of _freaks_!"

"I don't think we're going to be able to carry many more than these in our packs," Mohammed noted, ignoring her.

"Okay, take as many as you can manage and get them out of here. Then get back here and repeat the process as many times as you can. Probably won't have time for much more than one run-through. I'm going to join Ben in R&D."

0101010

R&D was honestly a bit of a disappointment to Henry's way of thinking. He had been hoping for gadgets. Ideally, the sonic-type weapon used against Magnus and Tesla in Rome would have been sitting in the center of the room. Instead, it was mostly test-tubes, beakers and vials.

"Getting samples of everything?" he asked Ben and Phil as the two men worked.

He may have been disappointed, but Magnus would probably find something here worth having here amongst all the chemicals and drugs. He walked over to the fridge and started going through the contents of the shelves.

There were several tubes of blood and some clear fluids in a rack, each container carefully labeled: Zimmerman, W. He pocketed those and started going through the vials of drugs. He recognized some of the names, but others were unfamiliar. He took them all, just in case they meant anything to Magnus.

Qiao's voice came over the radio. "Okay, people, we're starting to have trouble holding the line. Can we finish this and _go_?"

"Samples of _everything_," Henry ordered Ben and Phil. "God knows what they're up to here, and Magnus is going to want some clues. I'll be in the server room setting the EM charge." Nodding to the two men, he hurried from the lab, pockets heavy with vials of blood and drugs.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Okay, people, gather around!" Ashley ordered once her group had assembled outside the Cabal facility. "Last minute change of plans."

She opened a suitcase and started handing out Beretta 93Rs.

When she offered one to Tom Blanco, he just stared at it with wide eyes. "Doctor Magnus said no killing."

"You're right," Ashley agreed. "She _did_. But, as I like to say, not leaving bodies doesn't mean you have to take hostages. She said no killing. But she forgot to mention _kneecaps_." She smiled.

"You have _got_ to be _kidding_ me," he protested.

"Nope," Ashley told him, offering the gun again. "We're going to make the Cabal _feel_ this. Taking out their computer systems, making a point with our incursion, that's all well and good. But if we're going to get their attention, we need to take some of their foot soldiers out of commission for awhile. You got a problem with that, you can wait with the getaway drivers."

"She's not going to like this," he pointed out, taking the gun.

"What, never seen a mother bear defending one of her cubs before? Oh, _professionally_, she may have to go with the party line that we aren't violent or mercenary at all. _Personally_, she wants someone to pay for what's happening to Will. _I'll_ catch hell for this, but the rest of you are off the hook," she assured them, continuing to pass out guns.

No one else protested.

"Okay, people, let's go cause some damage!"

Cheers greeted her suggestion, but everyone fell silent the moment the team started edging forward. A Folding Man named Richard took the lead with Ashley, prepped to go in through a vent and disable the security system.

0101010

"You're getting closer, Helen," Dawa's voice came over the headset. "I see a flight of stairs."

She looked around quickly and found a door leading off to a stairwell. "Up or down?"

"Down, I think. He's in a dark place."

"Of that I have no doubt, but is he up the stairs or _down_ them?"

"Down. I'm pretty sure down. I get a feeling of pressure, like he's enclosed by earth. Helen, this would be so much easier if I were there with you."

"You don't have the slightest field experience and this situation could deteriorate fast. Down?"

"Uh, yes. Down."

Dawa sounded uncertain, but 'pretty sure' from a proven remote viewer was good enough for Magnus. It was better than wandering the halls at random based on a vague schematic that held no indication of which rooms were being used for what purpose.

She followed Dawa's directions down the steers and through the maze of hallways.

"Doctor Magnus," Charles' voice came over the headset. "We found the server room. We've copied the computer's contents and await your order."

"Prep the EM charge. I'm nearly there."

"No resistance?"

"None to speak of, although a few guards will wake up with headaches in a few hours."

"Understood. Henry Foss and Qiao Lloyd reported back. Substantial computer hardware and numerous medical samples removed from the location and en route back to the Sanctuary. The EM Pulse appears to have been effective. No sign of pursuit and Foss is on his way here."

"Very good. And Ashley?"

"Mission successful. Reports no deaths."

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Cabal injuries?"

"None serious."

"Left, Helen," Dawa's voice interjected.

"Thank you." She headed that way. "How many hospitalizations, Charles?"

"None. The Cabal appears to be handling it internally."

"What did she _do_?"

"Tom says their orders were to kneecap anyone who got in the way. As far as we've been able to tell, that's the extent of the injuries."

"_So_ cutting off her allowance," she muttered.

"Come again, Doctor?"

"Never mind. That EM charge in place?"

"Affirmative."

"Good." She reached a door. "Am I there, Dawa?"

"Yes, I see him on the other side of the door."

"All units start falling back," she directed, drawing her taser and entering the room.

Will was there in a hospital bed, a woman in a lab-coat leaning over him with a syringe in hand.

"That's quite enough of _that_," Magnus informed her in a cold voice. "Put down the syringe and step _away_ from my friend."

The woman backed away from Will, dropping the syringe and holding up her hands. "Magnus?"

"That's right." She smiled bitterly.

"I'm sure we can work something out. I'm just a consultant here."

"What have you done to my friend?" Magnus asked, pocketing the stun-gun and pulling out her Glock. "Will, can you walk?"

"Think so," he answered dully.

"Good. Charles, detonate the EM Pulse. Will and I will join you outside in less than five minutes."

"Understood, Helen. _Five minutes_."

"We'll be there," she promised. "Detonate. Get up, Will."

He slowly climbed out of the bed and shuffled towards her, keeping hold of his IV rack and bringing it with him.

"What do you have him on?" Magnus demanded of the woman before her. Static in her ear. The EM Pulse had been triggered. The headset was off-line. No witnesses any more…

"Thorazine and amytal."

"You _idiot_!" Magnus snapped, chambering a round. "You little _fool_!"

"What?"

"They're contraindicated and if you were any kind of doctor, you'd _know_ it!" She took a step towards the alarmed-looking woman, brandishing her gun.

"I'm just a research scientist!" she protested.

"Another scientist playing God," Magnus scoffed. "The Cabal never changes. Making the world a better place is _nothing_! They have to remake it in their own image! And you're _helping_ them! I should kill you here and now for your part in this atrocity."

"Helen…" Will's hand loosely clutched her shoulder. "You _aren't_ a killer," he told her, his voice slurred.

"You're right, Will. I'm _not_," she agreed, lowering her gun. Marginally. Then she pulled the trigger.

The other woman hit the floor with a howl, curling into a ball and clutching her shattered knee to her chest.

"But that was still very satisfying," she added. "Get dressed, Will. Your friend and I need to talk."

"I don't know where my clothes are."

"Think you can remove that IV line and those electrode leads? This woman and I need to talk."

"Think so…"

She took a moment to look Will over. Dressed in nothing but a short hospital gown, she could see his arms and legs almost entirely, and much of his chest due to the way the gown was draped.

"Did you fight back _at all_?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "Didn't seem worth it."

She closed her eyes in irritation. Damned drugs.

"I knew you would come for me."

"Oh." She smiled weakly at him. For some reason, that profession of faith made her feel ill. "Get yourself unhooked, Will."

"Okay, Magnus." He sat down on the edge of the bed and started tugging at the electrodes on his forehead.

She turned her attention back to the scientist, furious with her for reducing brilliant, _alive_ Will into this apathetic drone.

"I should kill you now," she breathed, feeling a sick sense of satisfaction at the fearful look on the other woman's face. "But I'm not going to." She smiled bitterly as the fear started to recede. "I need you to deliver a message for me."

"A message?" she panted.

"That's right. To the Cabal. From Doctor Helen Magnus, head of the Sanctuary. Listening?"

A shaky nod.

"This ends here. No one lays hands on _any_ of my operatives or affiliates again or it _will_ come to open war. I will happily destroy the Cabal if that's what it takes to protect my own. They think they know what we're capable of, but they're wrong. If it comes to war, we _will_ prevail. We have a stronger force of will and powers at our disposal that the Cabal can_not_ begin to imagine. Can you tell them that?"

"Y… y… _yes_," she panted.

"Very good."

Magnus walked over to the drug cabinet and searched through it for a moment, coming up with a vial of morphine. She drew up a dose that would ease the pain without dulling the woman's senses and knelt down with her, administering the dose.

"You are very lucky," she whispered for the woman's ears alone, "that my daughter is not here now. Because you would not escape this unscathed. I bear you no ill-will as a person, but I must say that I consider you behavior extremely ill-advised. Once you have delivered my message to the Cabal, you seriously want to consider severing your ties with them forever. I'm not sure what you think these people are at, but I assure you that you have _no_ idea of the true scope of their plans. If you want to sell your soul, that's your own business, but I would suggest that, in future, you research the buyers a little more closely."

The woman whimpered in what seemed to be ascent.

"Good. My friend and I will be leaving now. Kindly convey my message to the Cabal. And make it clear to them that what happens next, whatever that might be, it is on their heads. The blood that was spilled today is on _their_ hands."

She closed her eyes and nodded once.

"Your injuries won't kill you, or even cause serious disability," Magnus told her, glancing over her shoulder at Will. He had detached himself from EEG, EKG, and IV. He was as ready to go as he would ever be, and her time was running short. "But you will always walk with a limp. Let it serve you as a reminder." She climbed to her feet again and extended her hands to Will. "Time to go home."

He lurched towards her, letting his hands fall into hers and still moving closer. She let him hug her, smiling and holding him close, murmuring reassurances for a few moments.

"Will, we must go now," she told him finally. "Our time is limited."

"It's good to see you, Helen," he slurred.

"Likewise, Will. Now come on."

"But, Alice…"

"She'll recover," Magnus promised. "I need you to come with me now. Consider it an order if you must. You can be appalled at my ruthlessness and violence later. Now, I need you to come with me."

"Right," he agreed, shuffling towards the door.

Magnus followed, keeping her gun drawn and ready, but they made it outside without incident. Except that when the waiting Henry and Ashley threw themselves at Will, all three ended up in a pile on the ground. Laughing more from relief than amusement, she helped them up, fixed Ashley with a look promising that they would have words later, and then loaded them into a waiting van and signaled the driver to go.

After a few moments of silence, in which Will dozed, his head alternately lolling against Henry's shoulder and Magnus' own, Ashley cleared her throat.

"We just declared war on the Cabal, didn't we?" she asked.

Magnus could not find it in her throat to reproach Ashley. Not when she had given in to that same blind rage.

"We have, dear. But don't worry. It's _nothing_ the Sanctuary can't handle."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

When Magnus entered Will's bedroom three days after his rescue, the first thing she noticed was the gun pointed at her chest. Well, it would have been hard to miss. And poor Will's hands were shaking so hard. She stopped in her tracks, carefully holding her hands away from her body.

"It's okay, Will. It's only me."

"Sorry." He put the gun down, twitching a few times as he did so. "Thought you must be Cabal…"

"Here in the Sanctuary?" She sighed and approached him. "Your paranoia is a function of withdrawal. If you'll just allow me to increase your thorazine dose back to it's previous level, we can ease you off more gradually…"

"No! No drugs than I need to stay healthy." He shook his head. "Can't be like that again. _Won't_ be."

"Fair enough. What about an anxiolytic?"

He shook his head again, more violently this time. "No more drugs. I _can't_. Helen, _please_ don't make me?" he pled, tears in his eyes.

She bit her lower lip at the pain in his voice, poor man. "No, Will. Of course not. I didn't mean to upset you; I just wanted to see how you're holding up."

"I've been better." He let out a hysterical little laugh that made her heart ache for him. "But I'm _me _again. I think."

"Of course you are, Will," she agreed, walking over to the bed where he sat. "I know this is difficult for you."

"You must think I'm some kind of…"

"No, Will. Of _course_ I don't. What's happening to you now is a purely physical reaction to the removal of thorazine from your system. And I know it's uncomfortable for you, and probably embarrassing as well, but it's _nothing_ I haven't seen before."

He stared up at her, his expression shocked. Horrified, she imagined, to think she could employ the same tactics as the Cabal.

"You must remember how long I've been in practice. And, before anything better came along, thorazine _was_ the most efficacious medication we had for the relief of severe anxiety, agitation, and psychosis. I've seen people _on_ this drug, and I've seen people trying to come down _off_ of it. And you're doing _fine_, Will. I've witnessed _far_ more adverse withdrawal than yours."

He closed his eyes, nodding weakly.

"It's late. You should try to sleep. Would you like a sedative?"

He shook his head.

"No, no, of course not. I'm sorry. But _should_ you require anything, no matter what the hour…" She turned towards the door.

A whisper met her ears. "_Stay._"

She froze with her hand on the doorknob. "Will?"

"You chase away the monsters. You have since I was a kid…"

In the past hundred or more years, she had made a conscientious effort to harden her heart. It still melted at his plea, the pain in his voice so like that she had heard from his as a frightened and bereft child.

Without turning: "You poor man."

"Right now," he told her, his voice shaking, "I am not myself because of the withdrawal. I _know_ that. I could probably even _handle_ it if that's all there was to it. But I think I've got post-traumatic stress over this whole nightmare, and I _don't_ think I'm going to be able to handle _that_. Not alone."

"No, of course not," she agreed, walking back to the bed and sitting down next to him. "My own training in psychology is rather wanting, but I'll do what I can to help you. Between the two of us, we'll be able to figure something out to help you through this."

"We can start with Inderal. It shows decent efficacy for PTSD."

"The beta-blocker? I'll get you some now."

"No." He caught her hand before she could climb to her feet. "Please, just _stay_."

"Of course, Will. If that's what you need," she agreed, awkwardly looping an arm around his shoulders. "I'm here for you. Considering that this is my fault…"

"None of it's your fault. But I still don't understand why you didn't just _tell_ me I was an abnormal."

"By the time I realized, I assumed you must have known. How can an abnormal grow up and not _know_ that he's abnormal? I thought that the fact that you never mentioned anything to me was a function of… some sort of fear or… lack of trust."

He stared up at her with red, puffy eyes. Wide, anxious eyes, still as gentle and open as he always was, but also skeptical.

"I had no way of knowing otherwise. I blamed some deficit in _myself_ for your lack of openness. I could hardly believe that you might be completely open with me and simply unaware that there was anything worth sharing. I _am_ sorry."

"So am I," he answered, staring bleakly into the open space before him. "I always knew I was different. I just never thought…" His whole body shuddered and he drew in a broken breath. "Sorry," he managed, half-choking on the word.

"If anyone should be apologizing, Will, it isn't you," she answered, lifting her other arm and wrapping it around him, turning slightly and drawing his close.

Will let out a sob and wrapped his arms around her, weeping into her shoulder. Magnus sighed and cradled him close, exactly as she would have done for Ashley or even Henry, should either be this upset. He clung to her, his whole body shaking, and she just patted his back and rocked slightly, doing her best to focus on projecting soothing thoughts to the poor man.

She did not tell him not to cry, knowing that this was something he _needed_, physically as well as psychologically. The value of a powerful catharsis was not to be underestimated. It was why upset children felt better after a good cry, why Ashley always felt better after an intense monster-hunt. If he exhausted himself in this, he would be able to sleep deeply afterwards, quite possibly for the first time since his rescue.

Very slowly, she felt the body clinging to her begin to relax, and so she allowed her mind to relax as well. He would be _fine_. He was stronger than most, certainly stronger than _he_ knew. And, having the Sanctuary staff there for him every step of the way…

"Ready for bed?" she offered.

He shook his head, not lifting it from her shoulder, and let out a whimper of protest.

"There, now, Will," she murmured sternly. "You _must_ rest."

"I will. Just not _now_."

Magnus frowned at this. She knew for a fact that he had not gotten any sleep the night before, because Henry had shown her security footage of the young psychiatrist walking the halls of the Sanctuary all night long.

Poor Henry desperately wanted to help his friend, but was afraid of making things worse trying to help. So he had gone to Magnus, told her that he knew that she of all people could make it right. Ashley had voiced a similar sentiment, which put no small amount of pressure on her. But it was mostly her own desire to make things right that allowed her to persist.

"Will, I'm afraid I must insist."

He lifted his head enough to look her in the eyes without surrendering any of his body's proximity to hers.

"I _can't_ be alone," he confessed, looking mortified by the admission.

"Then you shan't be."

His eyes widened and he tensed, pulling away.

"Now, _Will_," she chastised, reaching out and touching his cheek lightly with one hand. He closed his eyes and leaned into the contact, a man desperate for reassurance, psychological _or_ physical. "You know me better than that. But, as I would with Ashley or Henry, I will stay here tonight with _you_ for as long as you need me. You've been through an _intensely_ traumatic experience and I _won't_ leave you alone with those memories if that isn't what you want."

He shook his head, pulling away from her and jumping to his feet, pacing the length of the bedroom. "I don't _know_ what I want any more!"

"No, I imagine you _don't_," she agreed.

She beckoned with a hand-gesture and he moved to sit on the bed again, looking frankly confused as to why he was doing what he was. When he was next to her once more, she slid an arm around his shoulder, smiling and radiating thoughts of peace.

"Just you relax," she directed.

"For some reason, I can't seem to do anything else," he admitted sheepishly. "I don't know what it is about you."

She chuckled softly. "Surely you didn't think that longevity was the _only_ ability I gained from my experiment?"

He tensed, but only for a moment. Before long, he was leaning into her shoulder and breathing deep and slow, obviously fully aware of what he was doing and still drinking deeply.

"That's better," she murmured. "You don't have to be afraid, Will, not of _me_. What I'm about to tell you is something I've never told _anyone_, not even John although he probably suspected as much. There are gifts that vampires possess beyond the obvious and the flashy and the incredible. One is simply this: when it comes to emotions, they _see_ and they understand and they react accordingly."

"What, like empathy?"

"Almost precisely, although the perception is sensory rather than supernatural and the influence exerted pheromonal rather than hypnotic. But this has been my gift to _many_ of my more fearful patients. Simple peace, at least for the time being. Accept it now as my apology."

Will threw his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder again. Magnus sighed and held him close until he relaxed once more. Her presence was just one more drug, a way to forestall rather than prevent the inevitable aftermath of his imprisonment. But it was better than letting his suffer. He deserved at least one night of peace.

Ultimately, he let her maneuver him down into bed, eyes shut although he still gave the occasional shudder as a fresh wave of emotion tore over him.

"There now, Will. Just you rest," she urged, pulling his quilts up and tucking him in. "I'll be right here."

"You don't have to stay. I'll be fine."

"_Hush_," she whispered, bending down and pressing her lips to his forehead. "_Rest_, Will."

"Thank you," he whispered, smiling weakly up at her.

"Rest," she repeated, rising and drawing a chair close to the bed. She settled down in it and offered him her hand, smiling when he grasped it. "It won't be easy, Will, but you'll get through it. We're here to help you."

"I know. And I appreciate it."

"Get some sleep, Will. We'll talk in the morning. Things will make a lot more sense in the light of day."

"I tell my own patients that a lot. Wonder if it's true?" he added plaintively.

"Well, if you go to sleep now, you'll find out in good time."

He smiled weakly. "Thanks, Magnus. For everything."

"I only did what _any_ friend would have done under the same circumstances."

"No, you _didn't_. You've been my guardian angel since I was a kid. So _thanks_."

She smiled and nodded. "My pleasure, Will. I knew then that you'd grow up to be something special. Glad I was right. Now _sleep_."

"Yes, ma'am." Yawning, he closed his eyes, but his hand retained a tight hold on hers.

When his grip loosened, indicating sleep, she freed her own hand, resting his carefully on his chest, and sat back to guard him in his sleep. He was right. When he was a boy, right through to the present day, she was always there to chase off the monsters.

**The End**


End file.
